My Girl
by Innray
Summary: In Mockingjay, Haymitch tells Katniss that he had a girlfriend who was killed after his victory.  So I decided to write about her! :    From her PoV.  Reviews, PLEASE!
1. 1

**First Hunger Games fic! Hopefully I can make it the whole way through, unlike my unfinished projects... :/**

**ANYWAY, the full description of my story! Basically, is the 50th Hunger Games through the eyes of Allie, Haymitch's girlfriend. I KNOW I did not get all the details right, but just bear with me. I had to write about her as soon as I learned Haymitch had a girl when he said it in Mockingjay! Read on, and please review :)**

I hold on tight to Haymitch's hand as Wellik Piper thrusts his hand into the girls' reaping ball.

"Relax, Allie! You have, what, four slips in there? You're not going to get chosen!" Haymitch grinns and brushes a kiss through my hair.

"No, I signed up for tessara this year and last. So I _actually_ have ten. Get it right, Mitchie! I have a reason to worry, what with the doubling of tributes this year."

We are cut off from any further commentary with Wellik pulling his hand out with a paper clenched in his fist. "Evanna Lireie!" Evanna is the daughter of my mother's friend, and we'd been close as children, but then, when we were nine, we'd had a huge fight over something trivial and I hadn't spoken to her since. She's too prissy for my taste, but I still don't want to watch her die.

Evanna climbs up next to Wellik and blows a kiss to the camera. Wellik laughs, wishes her luck, and sticks his fat hand back into the girls' ball. Haymitch leans down close to my ear.

"See? There's only one girl left to be picked, and if it's you then I'll have to turn to the drink as an escape, because there's no way you'd make it. You worry too much!" He laughs and easily dodges my smack, instead catching my arm and pulling me close.

"Maysilee Donner!" is what Wellik shouts out next. I look over and see Milana, Hazelle, Saicha, and Ree clinging to Maysilee. She's the candy shop owner's daughter, and I can already see that Milana won't deal well with her twin being in the Games. I look away. I'm close to the twins and don't want to see either be hurt.

"And what did I say? You didn't get picked!"

"Shut up, Mitchie! There's still the boys left!" He laughs a little, but when I look up his stormy gray Seam eyes are not in the square; he's thinking. My remark hit him hard. Both he and Hayden, his brother, have more than my ten slips of paper. Haymitch has had to sign up for tessarae since his first year in the reaping, and he's seventeen, a year older than me. Hayden is fourteen and has eight slips, but Haymitch is always worried about him.

"I'm sorry, Haymitch. I didn't mean that. If you get picked then I'll have to turn to morphling as an escape, because you're too arrogant to get very far in the Games." I try mimicking his gruff voice, but fail miserably. He laughs, for real this time.

"Then I'll have to come back from the dead and nurse ya back to not being an addict, won't I?" Wellik has managed to grab a paper and announce the next tribute, a boy whose name I don't hear because I'm too busy trying to keep Haymitch from tickling me. I recognize the boy, he's been in my parents' butcher shop several times. He has a lazy eye and occasionally talks to himself. I see his parents crying in the crowd and feel terrible for any rude comments I've made towards him.

"And our final male tribute from District Twelve..." The crowd goes silent, and Wellik rummages around in the ball for a moment.

"Haymitch Abernathy!" He freezes behind me, and our jokes come back like a slap in the face. _Did we jinx it?_ He makes his way through the crowd, and I run up and grab his shirt and kiss him hard on the mouth. I feel the cameras focusing on us, and he gently pushes me away. "I love you," he murmurs, and mounts the steps.

Cameras flash, and Wellik makes a speech with much gesturing, but I don't listen. I make my way over to my parents, who stand disapprovingly with their arms crossed.

"That was _quite_ the spectacle you had there, young lady," hisses Papa, mustache quivering. He's a big man, with no hair on his head but a great red mustache and hands scarred and stained red from years of butchering.

"I probably won't see Haymitch again, Daddy! Unless you let me go to the Justice Building to say good-bye, then that's it!" I feel my bottom lip quivering and force it to stop.

"Maybe this will teach you not to act like a little slut, running around with one of the dirty Seam boys! Do you know what people think?" whispers Mama.

"How can you _say_ that? Mama, I love Haymitch!" She purses her lips and refuses to look at me. Mama has the look of a woman trying desperately trying to imitate styles of the Capitol's latest trends, except for crazy body surgery. But here in Twelve, we get the styles last of everyone. I find her and Papa despicable.

"You will not be going to the Justice Building, Allaine! You will be coming home tonight and there will be _no_ argument!" Papa's tirade is interrupted by Hayden coming up behind me. He's the only person living in the Seam that they can put up with.

"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Bindin? We-my mother and I-are going to the Justice Building, to say good-bye to Haymitch. And, well, we know he'd like to see Allie again, before..." he trails off and loks down at his feet.

"Hello, Hayden. I suppose Allaine can go...however she will come straight home after." Hayden can charm anyone. He always looks humble and it makes even the most hard-hearted people (Mama and Papa) feel sympathetic for him.

"Great! Yeah, we'll make sure she gets back." We leave and meet with Mrs. Abernathy (I haven't been able to call her Maria, although she insists) across from the Hob. The other families are already in the waiting area in the Justice Building. I see Milana crying on a bench near one of the doors, and Evanna's mother, father, and little sister and brother standing in a huddle near another door. I want to go to Milana, but she appears to want to be alone. I don't blame her.

Mrs. Abernathy and Hayden go in first, and I stand awkwardly outside. Haymitch doesn't have many visitors, although there were many girls in school who were crazy over him. I suppose they give up on people going to their deaths, although I know that they'll act like they were close with him. It happens every year. There's people who ignore a tribute until they are famous.

I despise them.

Since Haymitch does only have three visitors, I go and talk to Milana. Hayden and Mrs. Abernathy will have a half hour to see Mitchie, and I'll have a half hour, unless someone else shows up.

"Hey, Mil." She scoots over on the bench and I sit and put an arm around her. Milana curls up next to me, and she's shaking.

"I...can't believe it. Sh-sh-she's not going to win, even though she acts strong! The Careers, they'll...they'll..." Milana trails off and wipes her nose. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I know how you feel."

"What...? Oh, right, Haymitch. Oh my God, he got picked too, didn't he? Maybe a miracle'll happen and the Gamemakers will allow all the tributes from a district to win..." She doesn't say it, but I knew she was hoping Maysilee would win, and Mitchie, Evanna, and the boy with the lazy eye would...well, not. I'm Maysilee's friend, but...I was hoping the opposite would happen. And Haymitch would come home to me.

"Yeah, maybe." But I don't believe it. A Career will win, like always. We sit in silence, just embraced, until the door to Maysilee's room opens and her tearful parents come out. Her father gives me a watery half-smile, and Milana rises to go in.

"Thanks, Allie. Um...tell Haymitch I said good luck." She runs into the room and the door closes. I wait for another ten minutes or so, and then Haymitch's family comes out. Mrs. Abernathy is a mess, and Hayden is supporting her. His eyes are red, and I'm surprised that I've kept from crying for this long. Hayden sees me and nods and motions for me to go in. I do.

Haymitch is siting in a wooden chair in the middle of the room. When I come in, he looks up and his face lights up. I run and he stands to catch me, and the chair topples over behind him.

"I thought your parents wouldn't let you come," he says into my hair.

"Hayden came and used his charm to let me go." I bury my face in his chest and sob.

"Oh, Allie, don't..." But his voice breaks and I can feel something wet on the top of my head, and I know he's crying too. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Mitchie." We stand, just holding one another, and I look up and pull away a little bit. "You listen to me, Haymitch Abernathy." I take his face in my hands and bring it down close to mine. "You come home safe to me. You fight as hard as you can, and come home."

"I will, sweetheart. I'll win and come home and we'll live together in Victor's Village forever and ever. We'll be married and have a great big family with lots of kids and grandkids to chase after. I'm going to win. For you." He leans closer and kisses me, more passionately then ever. I entwine my fingers in his dark hair and he strokes my back and shoulders. That's how we are when the Peacekeepers come in and break us apart.

"I love you Haymitch!" I say, and then the Peacekeeper has me around the waist and is half-dragging me out.

"I love you too, Allie! I love you more than anything!" The door slams and the Peacekeeper deposits me in front of Hayden and Mrs. Abernathy, who seems to have pulled herself together. This time, it's me who loses it.

"I c-c-can't watch huh-huh-him d-die!" I gasp, and dissolve into tears. Hayden gets me on my feet and half-carries me to my house, where my parents are waiting, with shocked looks on their faces. He leaves me and I turn to face Mama and Papa, who look dumbstruck.

"What happened? Did he hurt you?" Mama fusses, and it seems like they've forgotten the harsh words from earlier.

"N-no! Of course he didn't, why would he do that?" I wipe my face on the rag that Papa silently hands me. "I'm going to bed..." They watch wordlessly as I climb the stairs to my room, where I don't even bother taking off my boots before climbing under the covers.

**So? How's the first chapter? Reviews, please! I'm trying hard to NOT make Allie a MarySue, so if I'm failing, pleeeeease tell me! Review, review, bitte! :)**


	2. 2

**Okay, children, are you ready for Part Dos of my pre-series fanfiction? It shall be epic. Actually, there won't be much action...sorry...It isn't like Allie is in the actual Games or anything!**

**OK I'm going to stop making my story seem awful and just write. So READ ON!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Papa makes me get out of bed only a few minutes after climbing in. They are showing the other tributes from the other districts, and it's required watching for everyone. I suppose it's so that the loved ones of tributes can get even more worked up about what their friend or kin is going up against. At least, that's how I feel right now.

I perch on the edge of the couch, as far away from Mama as I can. I still haven't forgiven her for calling me a slut earlier. The anthem plays, and the female tributes from District One area small, sneaky looking girl named Ruby, and a beautiful blonde named Shine. The boys are both hulking masses of muscle and both have odd names that don't stick in my memory. I don't pay attention to many, but there's a big girl from Two that scares me even from the television, and most of the tributes are either small or huge, no middle ground. Eight has a boy with thick glasses and who is even shorter than Ree Kary's little brother (he's nine). Then my district comes up.

Evanna is chosen first, and her kiss to the camera is shown. The announcer comments on how she looks like a spicy one to watch out for, and then Maysilee appears. She's pulling away from Ree, Saicha, Hazelle, and Milana. Mil's face falls when her twin goes onstage.

The boy with the lazy eye goes up, and the announcer says he probably won't last long.

"They shouldn't make comments like that. It makes the parents feel even worse," sighs Mama from the other end of the couch. I ignore her. It's Haymitch's turn.

Papa groans when they show me running up to Haymitch and kissing him. "My own daughter, a tramp..." he mutters, and rubs his forehead. I blink back tears. No matter how much I hate them, they're still my parents, and remarks like that hurt. Haymitch turns and mounts the stage, and the announcers say that between him and Evanna, Twelve might actually have a chance. Our first win since the tenth Games.

"See, we've got the plucky little girlie who can prob'ly hold her own against some of the stronger competitors, and we have the big, strong boy. Looks like neither've gotten a decent meal, in...weeks?"

"Well, of course not, Pare, it's District Twelve! S'not like they can eat coal!" The announcers, Pare Young and Leezie Hute, chuckle over their joke and sign off. Papa reaches and switches off the television.

"Go back to bed, Allaine. I don't want to see you until tomorrow morning, and you'll do the shopping then." Mama is clearly disappointed. She doesn't show it, but I know that she secretly was hoping for more publicity, so that our family name would be mentioned in the Capitol. It would already, though, during the public interview. Caeser Flickerman was bound to bring up the mystery kisser during Haymitch's interview.

"Yes, Mama." I go back upstairs.

The next week passes in much the same manner as that day. My parents ignore me, unless making snide comments about me. I don't really pay attention to anything. I just want to see my Mitchie on television again. I want a new mental image to have of him, instead of the one I have, which is the last time I saw him. It was in the Justice Building when the Peacekeepers were taking me away. He has a big wet mark on the front of his shirt, from where my face had pressed against him. He looks shellshocked.

The Haymitch I love isn't that guy. My Haymitch is always upbeat and kind, not dazed and sad.

When the night of the interview comes, I decide to watch at the Abernathy's. I don't want to deal with Mama and Papa again. I bring the bag of apples I'd bought earlier and go over there. I knock and Hayden immediately whips the door open.

"Oh. Hi, Allie! You hear to watch?"

"Hi, Hayden. Yeah, I don't want to put up with _them_ anymore." He nods understandingly and lets me in. The Abernathys live in a rundown house in the Seam, but Mrs. Abernathy manages to always make it seem cozy and homey. It always feels more welcoming than my own house, where the smell of blood and meat is always tainting the air.

"Allie! It's good to see you. Are these..." Mrs. Abernathy peers into the bag and gasps. "Oh, honey, you brought _apples_? These must've cost a fortune, you really shouldn't have...But I'm glad you did." She smiles and I automatically feel better. "We'll put these in the fire and have baked apples!" Hayden and I sit down in front of the television, and I wrap myself in a quilt. It smells like Haymitch, clean and warm and smokey. I burrow my face in it and inhale.

"'scuse me, Allie, but we just washed that quilt. I'd _appreciate_ if you could get your coal-covered face _out_ of the blanket." I look up and Hayden is looking at me with one eyebrow raised. I smirk and rub my "dusty" face into the blanket. He throws his hands into the air and sighs. "_Women..._"

"Don't insult women, we're the superior race!" argues Mrs. Abernathy, coming into the room. She switches on the television and we get settled into the chairs.

Caeser Flickerman has decided to go with a dark green facial color theme this year. It was white last year, and that was downright creepy.

"Welcome, welcome everyone, to the Fiftieth Hunger Games! Also known as the second Quarter Quell!" The camera pans out to the crowd and they're cheering. They thrive on the slaughter of children. Caeser comes onto the stage and is followed by the first District One tribute. The rest of the tributes go by quickly. We finish the baked apples somewhere during Eight, and I must've dozed off, because Hayden shakes me.

"Allie! District Twelve is starting!" Evanna is strutting onto the stage, waving and blowing kisses. Her personality theme is obviously sexy, because she's wearing a _very_ low-cut dress with stiletto heels and a messy updo. There are quite a few wolf-whistles from the crowd, and even Caeser has to work to keep his eyes on her face. She winks and the crowd goes wild.

"So, Evanna, you have obviously managed to charm-or seduce-much of the Capitol! Is that going to be your strategy in the arena, as well?"

"Caeser, I think if I told you that, I'd be _cheating_." She bites her lip and looks at him from under her lashes. "But...I think I'll try my best." The rest of her interview goes by much in the same fashion, with Caeser getting redder and redder and Evanna pulling her dress down and winking at the crowd.

"She's going to get a lot of sponsors, that one." Hayden is red too. Mrs. Abernathy pinches him on the shoulder and he stops drooling.

"She wasn't ever like _that_ in school!" I was right, too. Evanna had always liked attention from guys, but this...this was new. Her attitude is usually high-and-mighty and prissy, and for some reason, the boys licked that up.

The boy with the lazy eye (I learn that his name is James Petrell) is very quiet during his interview, and the attitude of the crowd suggests that he won't be getting sponsors, unless people feel bad for him. Maysilee plays the humble approach quite well.

"Well, Caeser...I can really say that I had no idea that the Capitol could _ever_ be so beautiful! I won't be here for much longer, but I really've enjoyed my stay!" She smiles shyly and the crowd is eating it up. They love all the tributes so far.

"And, our last tribute from Ditrict Twelve, we have...Haymitch Abernathy!" Hayden cheers and pumps his fist, both Mrs. Abernathy and I give him reproachful looks.

"What? I'm showing home support." I roll my eyes.

"So, Haymitch, how do you like the Capitol?"

"Well...it's quite a lot bigger than Twelve, that's for sure." The crowd laughs and he smirks. I think his personality theme is arrogant, or something, because he's got a face on that says "I'm better than you, you can't take me, I'm going to win it all". "But I guess it's nice. Too shiny and flashy." Caeser laughs and lets the crowd cheer before asking the next question.

"Well, from talking to my friends here in our shiny city-" the crowd titters. "-it seems that you've stolen quite a few hearts. What do you think about that?"

"You've _got_ to be kidding me. Haymitch? Stealing hearts? He looks like a bum!" I aim a kick at Hayden and he shuts up. On the screen, Haymitch leans back and laughs.

"Wow, for real? Didn't see that one coming...I guess it's just the coal dust that makes them attracted to me."

"Well I think this next question is what all my friends' teenage daughters are wondering: Did you leave someone special back home in Twelve, or are you..." Caeser winks. "...available?"

"Well...I've got my girl back home. Sorry ladies, but you all come in a far second to Allie. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." I giggle. The crowd boos good-naturedly, and Haymitch puts his hands up in a mock surrender.

"Well then! I can tell you're going to be fighting hard to win, if you've got such a wonderful girl waiting for you! Final question: SInce there is one _hundred percent_ more competitors this year, how do you feel about the Games?" Haymitch seems to be pondering the question a little before he answers.

"Well...I think they'll be one hundred percent as stupid as they always are." The crowd laughs and Haymitch flashes them all a grin. His smile doesn't reach his eyes, and I know that he's scared, despite the mask he's wearing.

**((SECOND CHAPTER DONE! I couldn't remember exactly how the dialogue between Haymitch and Caeser went, so I improvised. My friend has my Catching Fire book, or else I'd look it up! Review, please! :D))**


	3. 3

**Chapter Three! I have no idea where I'm going with this one, so I'm just going to type and hope that it turns out well. ;) The Games have begun!**

The first day of the Games was yesterday. I'd watched at home, after my parents had insisted. They liked that the mention of me had gotten, and I believe Mama had been hoping that people would come to interview "the most beautiful girl". Unfortunately, they don't interview until the final eight, and with District Twelve's luck, none of our tributes would get there.

The Cornucopia was brutal. One quarter of the tributes had been killed, including James Petrell. His mother had been walking around and around the square today with red and puffy eyes. She didn't talk to anyone.

"Allie! Allie! _Allie!_" Milana and Hazelle come running up to me. Today is cold, and their breath comes out in steamy puffs. I stop walking and wait for them.

"Hi, guys!" We walk together and chatter about the interviews two nights ago. We briefly laugh about Evanna's antics and wonder if that will land her more sponsors. Hazelle's eyes get a little misty when we land on the topic of James Petrell, because their families were close. When we stop at the baker's, I discover why Saicha isn't with us.

"You've gotta be kidding." Hazelle stops in the doorway and we look to see what stopped her.

Saicha is leaning over the counter, leering at Adem Mellark, the baker's son. We all know she's had a violent, obsessive love for him since grade school, but this was kind of pathetic. He was doing his best to look away, but since he had to man the counter, he'd have to put up with her until she left or the bakery closed. Milana shrugged. "Oh well."

She bounces up to the counter. "Hiya, Adem! Can I have a loaf of wheat and a loaf of rye? Mother's making sandwiches for dinner so we can eat while we watch the Games. Did you see them yesterday? _ Intense_, right? I'd hate to be stuck at the Corucopia, good thing most of our tributes made it out okay, yeah?" He smiles and hands her the loaves.

"Yeah, really. Uhm...where's Ree?" He blushes. Hazelle, Milana, and I try to hang out with Ree and Saicha separately, because Adem is in love with Ree and Saicha is...well...

"Adem, can I have a little bite of white bread?" He rolls his eyes and turns back to Saicha. She points to a loaf and he pinches a little piece off and hands it to her. "My hands are so cold...I don't think I could hold it! Maybe...could you put it in my mouth?" Hazelle steps out of the shop, and I hear her laughing at the expression on Adem's face as he puts the bread in her mouth, then frantically turns and scrubs at his hands. Saicha scowls and flounces out, glaring at Milana and I.

"Nice one, Adem. Could I get a loaf of wheat and a cookie?" I have a little change saved up and I've only had the bakery's cookies once. Haymitch promised that we can have all the cookies we want at our wedding.

"Big spender, huh, Allie?" He goes to the window to get my cookie. "Saw your mention on television th' other night. Although I have to disagree with him..." Adem trails off and I turn around to see Ree entering the shop.

"H-hi! Can I get you something?" Adem ignores Milana and I and devotes his whole attention to Ree. Hazelle comes back in, flushed from the cold.

"Hi, Adem. No, I just came because I saw those three in here." Ree is well aware of Adem's head-over-heels crush and is always very diplomatic about it. She never tells us who she actually likes, but _I _always think it's Jack Everdeen. He's Haymitch's age and lives in the Seam, but whenever Jack comes anywhere near her, Ree gets all flustered and giggly.

"Oh. Oh, right. Here, Allie." Adem looks dejected when he hands me my bread and cookie.

"Aw, cheer up, Adem. There's more coal in the mine." Hazelle is always mothering everyone and she's quite good at it as well.

"What? I wasn't-I don't, no, uhm...We're closed. Bye!" He hurries us out of the shop and flips the closed sign. We all shake our heads.

"I was just trying to _help_..." Hazelle seems upset that Adem acted like that. Ree sighs.

"I wish he'd just give up already! Adem's nice and all, but...no. He's a good friend."

"That, and Saicha has been obsessing over him since, like, forever. I think she'd commit mass murder if you ever made a move on Adem!" Milana has a point. Saicha isn't always the nicest person. Actually, she's almost never the nicest person.

"I should probably get home...tonight's Games will be starting in a little bit. Bye, guys!" I turn and run into the shop.

"See you tomorrow, Allie! Hope he makes it through tonight!" I turn around again and wave at them.

"Me too! I hope Maysilee makes it too! G'night!"

Mama takes the bread from me as soon as I get into the house and throws it into the oven. "About time..." she grumbles, and goes back to chopping up whatever leftover hunks of meat are left from today. From what I can tell, we'll be having a mix of goat, dog, and rabbit.

I've spent too much time around the butcher's. All of those meats look the same.

I go and switch on the television. Mama sighs and puts her knife down.

"Allie, you've been glued to the television for a week. You haven't even been talking to any of the girls lately! You can't watch until after dinner, when the Games actually come on, okay?" I whirl around.

"What? I spent the whole day with them! And of _course_ I'm going to be watching the television! My-" The look on Mama's face makes me edit out 'boyfriend' for 'friend'. "My good friend Maysilee is in the Games!"

"Is Milana watching this much?"

"I can _guarantee_ that her family is probably watching even more than I am. Seeing as their daughter is on?" Papa walks in, then walks out again. The tension in the room is tangible, and Papa only likes conflict if he's actively involved.

Mama rubs her forehead. "Fine. Go ahead and rot your brains by watching last night's reruns and the anthem for an hour."

"I plan to." I go back to the television and watch Haymitch run ahead of everyone and get top pick of Cornucopia items. James Petrell gets knifed in the back by a Career and vomits blood all over the stairs, making the same Career slip and drop his bag. Evanna is cornered by the District Ten boy and gets away by kissing him, then running away. Maysilee takes a backpack and runs before anyone can see her. The area around the Cornucopia is covered in bodies clad in red and yellow tunics with black leggings. Most of the arena is covered in dirt or grass, and the outfits blend in well with the flowery surrounding. The bloodbath ends and cannons fire, while hovercrafts descend to collect the bodies. When the rerun is over and I turned to go into the kitchen to eat, but the sight of the bloody slabs of meat make me feel sick.

Papa thinks I'm sick when I don't eat. "That's good meat, Allaine, don't waste it!" he says when I pick at the goat/dog/rabbit mixture.

"Sorry. I've just rewatched children being killed, and the Cornucopia looked like that." I point at the mess on my plate.

"And who decided to watch the rerun? You did." Mama seems smug, like she proved a point. I don't understand it.

The Games weren't as bloody tonight as they were last night. Several people are killed from the middle districts, and Maysilee discovers that her backpack holds a blowgun and darts, along with poison. The poison wasn't necessary, though. The entire arena is poisonous, right down to the water in the glassy lake. Haymitch almost found out that everything was toxic the hard way. He had a handful of roots and was walking toward a creek when he put the roots to his lips. I scream and clutch at Papa's sleeve. He doesn't shake me away, surprisingly. Luckily, Haymitch trips over a body and the same roots he has are laying near the dead girl. He gasps and drops the roots immediately. I cheer.

"Be quiet Allie, I can't hear the commentary." Mama seems to be immune to any emotion.

"Close call there for our lone District Twelve boy. Good thing that Corda, the Three girl, hadn't gotten picked up yet!" Pare's voice barely hides his disappointment. Citizens of the Capitol and the announcers love the drama that deaths in the arena cause, and the loss of drama upsets them.

Their sense of entertainment is quite depraved.

By the time that two hours had passed and the night's Games were finished, there had only been two more deaths. There'd been a fight amongst the Careers and a District One girl and a Four girl killed one another. My parents seem relieved that Maysilee and Evanna are still in the running, though I overhear them talking later that "it would've been better if _he_ had just died". _I would give _anything_ for them to see how good he is and to get over the fact that the Abernathys are poor people,_ I think as I clean my teeth.

I dream that Haymitch dies. Mama and Papa stand in the background, cheering and jeering at him as Maysilee and Evanna come down on him and kill him. I try and get to him but my screams go unheard and I can't move. I wake and cry.

** ((OK everyone, Chapter Three is DONE! Bit depressing, I think, at the end. As always, reviews are very much appreciated! And by the way, for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet:**

** Ree=Katniss' mother**

** Saicha=Peeta's mother**

** Adem: Peeta's father**

** Jack=Katniss' father**

** And then I think we know that Hazelle is Gale's mother. Thanks for reading!)) :)**


	4. 4

**Sorry for the sort-of slow update...I was making a picture for DeviantArt! And I only have an hour on the computer so...I'm rambling. I'll stop :)**

**OK I'm not promising anything quality for this chapter because I honestly have NO CLUE what to write for this one. Sorry if it rambles! :)**

All of the Games for the next week are absolutely brutal. The picturesque landscape soon turns even more deadly; the mountain near which many tributes had gathered explodes into a deathly volcano, burning most tributes and killing a few as well. By the end of that day, the total tribute number is down to twelve. Throughout the week, more and more die by one another's hands. Evanna is the most shocking of the deaths. She had become friendly with one of the Careers and while they were sleeping, he woke up and slit her throat. He later explains to the Careers that that's the only reason why he'd gotten friendly with her, but they don't believe him and he's killed as well.

Haymitch is ambushed while examining an edible plant. Two Careers jump him. I'm watching with the Abernathys again, and Mrs. Abernathy and I scream and huddle together when he whirls around, knife in hand, to take them on.

"Ohmygoodness!" gasps Mrs. Abernathy. We have just seen Haymitch take care of his first victim. The Career from Four lies dead at his feet. While he's staring in shock at the body, the other Career tackles him and has him pinned by the throat to the ground. Then, a dart is lodged in the attacker's neck and Haymitch can shove him off.

"I think we can work better if we work together, don't you?" Maysilee stands on the fringe of the clearing, blowgun in hand. Haymitch wipes blood off his face and nods.

"Yeah, probably." When he bends to take his attackers' weapons, I can see his face.

My Mitchie, the young man I love, has faded. Haymitch has aged a million years in only a matter of weeks. I don't mention it, but I notice that Mrs. Abernathy has seen it too. Her boy is growing up too fast.

I think Hayden notices too. "Oh, _man_! He looks like them morphling addicts they show on television sometimes! Or that you see hanging around the back of the bars!" I chuck a pillow at him and Mrs. Abernathy hisses at him to stop saying things like that.

I hope the Games haven't changed Haymitch in more than appearance. I hope that his personality is still intact.

Maysilee and Haymitch head out into the wilderness. He explains to her that he thinks there's got to be an end to the place. They don't reach the end of the arena by the end of tonight's Games, and the show ends with a flash back to where the Careers have begun to fight amongst themselves for food.

"That's cruel, to make us wait for tomorrow like that! By tomorrow, there might be a winner, and we won't know unless we're ordered to watch!" Mrs. Abernathy is very upset about today's show.

"Don't worry, Mom. We're almost down to the final eight! Haymitch and the Donner girl are far away from the others and I think they'll last 'til then." Hayden and Haymitch make fun of each other to make people think they don't get along, but I haven't seen a tighter pair of siblings. Not even the twins are as close as the brothers are. Hayden is suffering right along with Haymitch, and both Mrs. Abernathy and I know that his jokes are what keeps him stable.

"Oh, son, imagine if he _does_ make it to the final eight! Those fluffy Capitol people will come here and interview us! We'll get to meet Caeser..." Mrs. Abernathy trails off.

"You'll get to meet your idol, you mean." Hayden puts his arm around his mother and rocks her a little. "Don't worry. He'll be home in a week or so, and everything will be back to normal. Except, of course, we'll get a new member of the family." Hayden winks slyly at me. Apparently, mine and Haymitch's wedding plans aren't as secret as we'd thought.

The next day, Hazelle and Ree have to pry Miana and I away from our televisions. "Come on, get away from the screen for, like, an _hour_! Let's go to the bakery! We're meeting Jack and Calvin there!" Calvin Hawthorne is Jack Everdeen's best friend, and that's probably why Ree and Hazelle are so excited to go.

"Fine, fine! I'm coming! One second!" I poke my head into the shop. "_Daddy_! I'm going to the bakery!"

"Back for supper!" he shouts, and I go out to see Hazelle and Ree waiting impatiently.

"Milana gave up waiting and went ahead." We run to the bakery to get into the warmth, and see that we aren't the only ones who've had the idea to go to the warmest building. The place is packed, and Adem and his father are struggling to keep up with orders.

"There they are!" I point to where Calvin stands on a chair, waving his arms. Hazelle slides in next to him and Ree sits next to Jack. Milana and I sit across from Calvin and Hazelle.

"Where's Saicha?" I ask, because she is usually wherever Adem is. Jack snorts.

"Guess where."

"Poor Adem..." We all turn and look at Saicha leaning over the counter, leering at him. "He should just tell her to leave off and stop bothering him."

"Watch, though. I'd bet money that he breaks in and they get married." Calvin leans back and flicks Hazelle's ear. She giggles. "You just watch!"

"Yeah, right! He can't stand her!" I get up. "I'm going to go and rescue him for a little bit. Want to come, Milana? What do you all want?"

"Piece of white bread!"

"Piece of wheat!" Milana and I take Ree and Hazelle's money and go up to the counter, shoving our way through the crowd.

"Why are you all so crowded today? It isn't that cold out!" Milana tells Adem what we want and the baker answers her question.

"Peacekeepers made an announcement yesterday in the square that there's a little grain shortage. Got announced yesterday night whilst the Games were playing in the square, weren't ya there?"

"I watched with Mitchie's family."

"Yeah, I watched at home. Why's there a shortage?" The baker shrugs and Adem comes back with our bread.

"Thanks, Adem! If there's a quiet minute y'should come and join our group for a bit." I pinch of a piece of Hazelle's bread and eat it. I do love bread.

"Maybe. I need to escape from the witch for a while." He leans over the counter and whispers, "She's crazy! For serious!" We laugh and go back to where everyone else is waiting.

"Jeez! About time! I was almost forced to eat Ree! Good thing you're back, eh, Ree?" Jack nudges Ree and she blushes.

"Don't eat me!" She squeals when he pokes her sides, and Milana and I lock eyes. _So cute, _her eyes say, and I nod.

"Give me the bread!" orders Calvin, and I hand him Hazelle's slice. She breaks it in two and hands him half. "Yumm...Warm..." He scarfs it down and we all laugh.

"Why dontcha try chewing? You eat like a starving person," I say. He looks shocked.

"You're cruel, Allie. I _am_ a starving person. Look at my ribs!" Calvin pulls his shirt up, exposing his stomach. He's right, he's skinny, but _jeez_! He's all muscle!

"Look at that, Mil. What a waste of good-looking torso. That torso is wasted, seeing as it doesn't match his face at all..." I shake my head regretfully and Calvin sticks his tongue out at me.

"You know you like it..." He turns to Hazelle, shirt still pulled up. "What do you think? Is this wasted on me? Or does it match my dashing good looks?"

"Well...sorry Allie, but I like his torso!" He puts his arm around her and keeps it there, and she glows.

"You all have no taste..."

"I agree with you, Allie. Cal's torso is smokin', but his face..." Jack trails off and shudders. Calvin reaches over the table with his free hand and smacks Jack in the head.

"Stop the violence!" Ree puts her hands out and stops Jack from throwing his bread at Calvin.

"Hey, sorry to cut this all short, but I've got to get back..."Milana grabs her coat and gets up.

"I should go too...Papa said to be home for dinner and I think that'll be soon." We leave. As soon as we're out of their hearing, we break down and laugh.

"Why aren't they just going out yet?" she gasps between laughs. "Ree and Jack would be adorable and Hazelle and Calvin would be _precious_ together!"

"I know, right? And I asked Jack the other day why he doesn't just ask her out and he said he didn't want to be rejected. But it's so _obvious_ that Ree's in love with him!" Milana laughs, then sobers up a little.

"Yeah, and all the good-looking guys are spoken for already." I inwardly sigh. Milana's the only one out of all of us who hasn't had at least one boyfriend yet, and she doesn't let us forget it.

"Don't worry! You'll find someone just for you someday."

"Like _when_? Those four are going to get together sooner or later, you've had Haymitch for three years, and Saicha and Adem are...well, you know..." She stops walking outside of her house.

"Two and three quarters of a year, actually. But, come on! There's plenty of guys who'd go out with you!"

"Like who?" She sniffs. "And don't say Artie Sames, either, because he's just creepy!"

"Well...What about Lyonel?" He was in school with us and had been on the fringes of our group for awhile.

"He's been with Nia for months, didn't you know?"

"You could always go for Adem..." I can't even finish before Milana is shaking her head violently at me.

"No! You _know_ that Saicha would stab me if I tried!"

"Okay...Well, I'm sure there's someone. Don't worry! I've got to go, though. The monster is emerging." Mama had just come out of our house and was standing in the doorway tapping her foot impatiently.

"'kay. See you later." Milana slams the door of her house and I wince.

Dinner is uneventful, but the Games are not. _Are they ever uneventful?_ I wonder as I settle into the chair to watch.

Two hours later and the final eight has been decided. The Careers had a knock-down, drag-out brawl that most of tonight was focused on, ending with four tributes dying. The final eight are a boy and a girl from One, a giantess from Two, a boy from Five, two girls from Seven, and Haymitch and Maysilee. They didn't show much of anyone else tonight, but even still I jump up and scream when the show ends. Haymitch is in the running for the win. Even Papa has a grin on his face, though his fiery mustache hides it. Mama looks pleased as well, but she mutters something about how the Donners will be so happy when Maysilee comes home.

Across the street, I can see shadows in Milana's house celebrating too. There hasn't been a District Twelve tribute in the final eight since the twelfth Games, when we had our last winner. Edelide Rammsen won that year, and she's a wasted old woman now. I can't imagine she was much of a mentor to anyone this year, or the past thirty or so years. For the first time in two weeks, I go to bed without crying.

**Chapter Four is alll done! Sorry for the slowness, I was trying to make Allie seem more than helpless. Hopefully I succeeded! Next chapter; interviews begin ;) Review and keep reading, please! :D**


	5. 5

** Alrighty then! Who's ready for chapter four? More backstory of the group (Allie, Haymitch, the twins, Ree, Saicha, Adem, Jack, Calvin, etc.) will be revealed in this one :) And I think Allie seems whiney again...My apologies. I try.**

**Note: Flashback are in italics.**

The day of the interviews, it's raining heavily. I run through the downpour with my hood up. Hayden invited me over to have lunch with he and his mother for the interview. The actual interviews will take place in the Justice Building, but Mrs. Abernathy said she wanted me to fix her hair for the interview.

"Hiya, Allie! Come on in! Jeez, did you go and jump in the puddles on your way here? Leave your coat here." Hayden takes my coat and hangs it up while I wring out my hair.

"No, I didn't jump in the puddles. Obviously you haven't noticed that it's pouring outside." I flick water at him and he shrieks like a girl.

"Stop goofing off, you two! We have to eat before we head over there!" Mrs. Abernathy calls us into the kitchen and Hayden tries to trip me when I walk by. We have leftover stew and water for lunch, then Mrs. Abernathy and I go into her room so I can fix her hair.

"How do you want it?" I ask as she sits on the bed.

"Oh, just a braid or something. I haven't ever been able to manage braid my own hair." I perch behind her and begin to braid it. "That's a very pretty dress! It brings out your eyes." I'm wearing a dark green dress over a lighter green shirt.

"Thank you. It's my mom's old dress, I 'borrowed' it for today. She only wore it once and then the hem ripped, so she hasn't worn it since. But I fixed the hem and it's mine now." Mrs. Abernathy has a lighter brown hair then her two sons, and it has streaks of gray in it. She tuts when she hears about Mama's wastefulness.

"It's good quality too! She could've at least reused the material." She reaches up and feels the sleeve of my shirt.

"Yeah, well...Mama isn't known for reusing things. If it isn't in style anymore, it's trash. If it tears, it's trash. Papa hates how much she throws away, but he doesn't argue." I tie off the braid and flip it over her shoulder.

"Beautiful! Thank you very much!" She smiles and we join Hayden and leave.

In the Justice Building, Milana and her family are already standing there. She comes over to where we are.

"Mil! Your dress is gorgeous!" I squeal and she twirls in a circle. It's light blue with threads of silver running through it.

"Oh, thanks! So is yours! It matches your eyes!"

"I've been told." She laughs and Hayden comes up behind her.

"Wow, Milana, that's real pretty!" He's red and I giggle.

"Weren't you looking for a guy yesterday?" I whisper to her, and she jokingly pushes me.

"I wasn't talking about Hayden! He's too young!" she whispers back.

"Whatcha talkin' about, ladies?" Hayden pushes his way between us and holds Milana at arms length. "Seriously, Mil, it's beautiful!" I see her breath catch. I don't think anyone's ever told her she's beautiful before.

_Hayden's really working the charm on her, _I think as I see him take a lock of her hair and twirl it idly. _Maybe..._ But before I can finish my thought, Caeser Flickerman himself comes out of one of the rooms.

"Hello, families and friends of the final eight!" He grins jovially and I see Milana's parents relax. The doors bang open and Ree, Hazelle, Saicha, Jack, Calvin, and Adem burst in.

"Sorry we're late! We lost track of time!" They look taken aback to see Caeser standing in the room, and he laughs.

"No worries, as long as you're friends of Miss Donner or Mr. Abernathy!"

"Both, actually. At least, me and Cal are."

"They're all friends of both." Mr. Donner speaks up for the first time.

"Well then! Best get these interviews done quick, eh? Who's up first?" Everyone looks at the floor, not wanting to be the first to volunteer. Finally Hayden raises his hand.

"I'll go."

"Excellent! Each interview will last ten to twelve minutes, and we should be done in..." Caeser takes a quick count of the people. "About two hours?" He goes back where he came out of and Hayden follows him. I gather into a group with my friends.

"He's creepy looking!" Jack says immediately.

"I think it's the green lips...At least they aren't white, like last year."

"Why can't he go with a normal color, like pink?" The boys make vomit noises at the word pink.

"Pink's too girly!" protests Calvin.

"Hey, buddy, I've got a pink tie on." Adem raises his eyebrow. "Are you callin' me a girl?"

"Well, on you, it's the manliest manly color I've ever seen. But, say, if Jack wore it...well I think I'd be worried." Calvin ducks from Jack's smack and we girls roll our eyes.

"Can't you two keep your hands off each other for, like, an hour? Please?" begs Milana.

"You guys don't care when Allie and Mitch are all couply!" points out Adem.

"That's 'cause they're _together_. They're a _couple_." Ree speaks slowly, as if to a three-year-old.

"Come on! We don't act that bad!" They look at me and their eyes say _You just keep tellin' yourself that_. "Well, not all the time, anyway. And Jack, remember at the bakery? You and Ree were acting like a couple, too!" He reddens and Ree has a little smile on her face.

"Yeah, but...but..."

"Yeah, Jack, why dontcha just go out with her already?" Milana puts her hands on her hips and looks pointedly at them. Jack seems to realize that he's had his arm around Ree for practically this whole time.

"Um...because when I ask her, I want to do it in private!" He ends his sentence with a shout and we jump. "Can we just drop it, please...?"

Just in time, Hayden comes out of the interview room. His eyes are kind of red and Caeser claps him on the back. "Who's next? Let's start with all of Mr. Abernathy's friends and family..." He takes Mrs. Abernathy by the hand and they go in. Hayden joins our circle.

"How was the interview?" asks Hazelle.

"Not too bad, he just asks you questions about them. But he's really cool." He wipes his eye and I pat his arm.

"Emotional?"

"Yeah...Like, you have to talk about your favorite memories and stuff." He sighs. "But it's not bad." We stand trying to forget the conversation about Jack and Ree, when Ree just stands on her tiptoes and kisses Jack's cheek. He looks surprised, and even more surprised when she slaps him in the face.

"And _that's_ for acting like a jerk about not wanting to ask me out right here." She crosses the circle and goes between Milana and I. We're all shocked, because Ree is usually really quiet and non-violent. Calvin tries to skate over the awkwardness and start a conversation, but he gives up and we go back to silence.

"Allie, you're up next!" Caeser's come out with Mrs. Abernathy and she hugs him before rushing to Mr and Mrs. Donner. I go in with him and he sits across from me.

"So, Allie, right? You're the mystery kisser, and the one Haymitch talked about in his interview?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"So tell me a little about you two. How'd you meet?"

"Well...I guess in kindergarten." I recount the story of how I didn't know anyone. I was crying near the swings, because Mommy and Daddy had _left_ me here, where I didn't know anyone! So Haymitch comes over and sits by me.

_"Hi! I'm Haymish. What's your name?" I look up and see a boy with floppy black hair and bright gray eyes and freckles sitting next to me. _

_ "A-Allie." _

_ "I'm in first grade. Since yer crying, you're prob'ly in kindygarten, right?"_

_ "Yeah, today's my first day and Mommy and Daddy _left _me!" I scrub at my eyes. Big girls don't cry, after all, and here I am crying._

_ "Won't you see them later?" I nod, and he shrugs. "So what's the problem?"_

"So Haymitch is a year older than you, then?"

"Yes, he's seventeen and I'm sixteen."

"Tell me about when you two started becoming closer."

"We've always been close...He looked out for me and he was my best friend."

_"Look out, Allie!" I look up just in time to see Saicha stick her foot out and trip me. I spill all my books and go sprawling in the mud. Kids around me stop and laugh._

_ "You leave her alone! You don't do that to her!" Haymitch comes running up and pushes Saicha aside, and she falls into a puddle too. "Are you okay, Allie?" He bends down and picks up my books for me, then extends his hand to help me up._

_ "I'm fine, but my dress..."I look down and see that I'm covered in mud._

_ "Don't worry. You still look pretty." He slings an arm around me and I stick my tongue out when we pass Saicha._

"I was thirteen then, and I still called him Hero Friend, like I did when I was littler. He called me Tiny or Carrot."

"And you miss him a lot, don't you."

"Every single day. I'm not...whole...without him. If he dies, I lose my best friend, boyfriend..."

"What about Maysilee?" Caeser is leaning forward, listening intently. It's easy talking to him, he really seems to listen.

"I met Maysilee and the other girls in kindergarten also, about a week after the first day. The twins were and still are very social and they dragged me into their friend group pretty easily. I was desperate for a friend my own age."

_"Hey, can we use your blocks? Me and them awe going to build the _biggest_ tower ever! Want to help?" Maysilee stands over me, hands on her hips. Behind her, Milana and three other girls stand with a pile of blocks._

_ "Uhm...sure!" She leads me over to them and I meet Ree, Hazelle, and Saicha._

_ "Do you live in town?" asks Saicha, placing a block on her tippytoes. _

_ "Yeah, because my daddy is the butcher! He makes meats!" Ree, Hazelle, and the twins gape at me._

_ "No way! How does he do that?" I smile._

_ "I don't know! I come in and there's no meats and then later, _bam!_ There's meats there!"_

_ "You're a liar. He gets the meatses from other people." Saicha has a lisp and is skeptical._

_ "No, 'coz my and Miwana's daddy makes candy! So Allie's daddy can make meats. And Wee's daddy makes people un-sick and Hazelle's makes clothes and yours makes...something?" Maysilee reaches up as high as she can to put a block up._

_ "My daddy is a fo'man in the mines. He doesn't _make_ anything."_

"And Jack and Cal were friends with Mitchie, so our groups merged together."

"Thanks for sharing that with me." I'm surprised to find that my eyes are stinging. Reliving my childhood makes me miss Maysilee and Haymitch even more. "Well, I'd love to keep talking with you, but, unfortunately, time's a-tickin'. You're a sweet girl, Allie."

"Thank you, Mr. Flickerman." Caeser stands and I leave. Outside, it seems our group has broken into separate circles. Jack, Calvin, Adem, and Hayden stand together talking and kicking a pebble back and forth, while the girls stand together. Saicha stands in the middle, torn between Adem and her friends. I go and tell Mrs. Abernathy that I'm leaving, and do so.

Mama is eager to hear the details of everything, and hauls me into the kitchen so I can talk to her.

"How was it?"

"It was all right...He's an easy person to talk to." I lift myself onto the counter and Mama adds spices to a soup.

"What did he ask you?"

"Oh, just how me and Haymitch met, and my friendship with him."

"Nothing with Maysilee?" Mama has forgot about her soup, trying to make my words into something else.

"Yeah, I told him about grade school and stuff. Can I go?" Mama pinches her lips together and nods curtly. I run upstairs to my room and dig around in my desk until I find the folder full of notes from middle school. I smile and remember how Jack would always race Haymitch around the playground, while they had me and Ree on their backs. Adem was always jealous of Jack, but never showed it. Most of the notes between Maysilee, Ree, and I show the beginning of young love.

_"...i just wish he'd like me different...but he's older than me and doesn't..."_

_ "...Jack's cute...so's Adem tho..."_

_ "...you two are ridiculous! boys are stupid and germy!" _That was Maysilee.

Calvin was the jokester, always teasing and poking and joking. If I remember right, he and Adem got into a major fight because Cal wanted to '"borrow" the teacher's planner of weekly assignments and give the upper classes free days and give the lower classes (us girls) more work. Adem won that one.

That year was the boys' first year of being entered in the Games.

**((Sorry for that awful ending there, I wasn't sure how to tie it off for this chapter. I also apologize because Allie is kinda crybaby-ish again. Didn't mean to! :) Review and read, please! Thank you to all of the people who've reviewed and stuck with me so far! :D))**


	6. 6

**All righty now! I think this is kind of a sad chapter, especially for Milana [hint hint ;)]. And sorry for the slowness, I had exams this whole week and didn't get much writing done.**

**Disclaimer: (which I've neglected to add so far...:\) I own nothing. Except maybe Allie. But mostly nothing.**

The Hunger Games weren't aired the day of the interview. There would be a double length 'special' on the next night, but the day that they finished District Twelve's interviews, all interviews were aired. Every single person interviewed was really emotional and almost everyone cried. Even _Mama_ was sniffing by the end, and Papa blew his nose like a goose when they were over. Nobody likes to hear others' sad stories, and eight smashed together, cut with images and footage from the Games and personal lives, are always a tearjerker. I wipe my eyes on the edge of the blanket I'm under.

"Always one of th' worst shows," Papa says, putting his handkerchief back into his breast pocket.

"That little girl from Four, her story is just awful." Mama was especially moved by Eta Firm, a thirteen-year-old from Four. She had one of the shortest interviews because her entire family had been killed in an accident, so she had her uncle onscreen crying while he spoke. They're one of the poorest families in the district and, unless she wins, they'll die. Eta's uncle has already lost three children to either cold or starvation, and they desperately need the winnings. "But I'm surprised she's made it so far..."

"She got 'adopted' by that giantess from Two, remember? So it's not that much of a surprise...The giantess would pound anyone who even tried to hurt Four." Mama glares at me and I glare right back. She had left after Maysilee's featuring and even Papa couldn't get her to watch Haymitch's feature.

There was much yelling during that time. I blocked out their arguing and focused on the screen. Jack and Calvin had interviewed together and their quips made me laugh. Every funny memory they could remember was onscreen, and they filled in for each other when needed. Their interview was accompanied by pictures of Haymitch and them from high school, all three grinning cheekily. My own interview was accompanied by pictures of Haymitch and I, or pictures from elementary school. Papa came back in and I saw him smiling when he saw me with a huge gap-toothed grin next to a floppy haired Haymitch with his tongue out.

The day after, Ree invites all the girls over for a sleepover. She said that since the Games were going to be _four hours_, her parents said she could have friends over to watch. Milana, Hazelle, and I show up to her house at six o'clock, toting a change of clothes with us.

"Hi guys! Come on in, it's about to start." We follow Ree through the maze of cabinets of medicine to the back of the shop, where her television is. We spread blankets out on the floor and turn on the television on just in time to see the beginning of the anthem.

"_Why_ do they have to play the anthem before everything? Don't they know we have it, like, memorized by now?" I groan and Milana starts singing the anthem in an obnoxious, high-pitched voice as soon as the screen statics to Pare and Leezie sitting in their little announcing box. I toss a pillow at her and Hazelle tells her to shut up or there will be something drastic happening.

"Like what?" Milana stops singing long enough to ask, but she's quickly shushed by the rest of us.

"It's starting!" The screen cuts immediately to the giantess and Eta Firm hunting. For her size, the huge girl is surprisingly agile and has downed a pair of rabbits when Eta's scream makes her whirl around. Before the giantess can do anything, Eta falls with a knife sticking out of her back. There's a quick camera pan to a Career boy, but the giantess is on him and has wrenched his head all the way around. We all gasp and Ree runs out of the room holding her mouth.

Back with Eta, the giantess pauses only long enough to take the knife out and take the younger girl's bag before running off.

"That's awful! The little girl wasn't even dead yet!" Hazelle's face is bright red; it's obvious that the knife in Eta's back has made her remember James Petrell, so like a little brother to her.

"What happened?" Ree comes back in, wiping her mouth. She still looks a little green.

"That...that _monster_ just robbed that little girl before she was hardly dead! Didn't even check to see if she was dead or _nothing_!" We're enraged by it and hardly notice Pare and Leezie also voicing their outrage. If I remember correctly, Pare and his wife are originally from District Four, and Leezie's always an emotional announcer regarding young children from poverty. Who isn't, really?

"It's how the game's played," Milana says hollowly. I look at the screen and they've stopped yelling about the unfairness of the giantess and the cameras are now on Haymitch and Maysilee. Everyone in the room shuts up and stares intently at the screen. The pair has reached the end of the arena, and Maysilee shouts to Haymitch about how maybe they'd be better off if they weren't in an alliance anyway.

"Fine then! Go away!" he shouts back, and Milana makes a rude gesture at the screen.

"Asshole..." she mutters.

Maysilee stomps off and the camera stays on Haymitch. He throws a rock over the edge of the arena and sits down. Minutes later, the rock comes back and lands next to him. He grins and chucks another rock, which lands neatly in his palm.

"Looks like he found his source of entertainment," comments Ree. Milana is the only one who doesn't laugh, she has her brow furrowed.

"Wish they'd show May...I've got a bad feeling..." A scream pierces out of the speakers and I jump. Milana goes white. Onscreen, Haymitch is obviously debating whether to go check on Maysilee.

"_Get over to her, you idiot!_" screams Milana. Apparently, he can hear her, because he gets up and runs to where Maysilee had gone. He arrives just in time for her to be pierced through the neck multiple times by a flock of bright pink birds. A fallen nest with cracked eggs on the ground shows why the birds attacked.

"_Maysilee!_" Milana's scream leaves her mouth right as Haymitch runs and catches Maysilee from hitting the ground. Milana's screaming brought Mr. and Mrs. Kary into the room. Mrs. Kary turns white and leans against her husband.

Maysilee doesn't die quickly. She closes her eyes and rests her head in Mitchie's lap, but her cannon doesn't fire for ten minutes. He holds her hand and stays with her even after the cannon fires. He doesn't take any of her supplies, just quietly leaves.

Milana turns and glares at me after the anthem plays. "Are you happy now?"

"What do you mean? Of course I'm not!"

"Yeah right! Now that _my sister is gone_, your _boyfriend_," she spits the word out "has a clear shot to win. I figured you'd be _happy_."

"Are you kidding? Maysilee was my friend too! Why would I be _happy_ about my _friend_ dying?"

"Should I repeat what I said? Are you too stupid to comprehend long words? _Haymitch. Can. Win. Because. Maysilee. Died."_

"I _get_ that. I _don't_ get why you would think I would be happy! That's terrible to think!"

"Just shut up." Milana grabs her bag and jacket. "I'm leaving. Sorry, Ree, but I don't want to be in the same room as my sister's betrayer's girlfriend." Ree looks confused, but shrugs.

"Okay...uhm, see you tomorrow!" Milana slams the door on her way out.

"That was...weird," Hazelle is staring at the door blankly.

"You guys don't think I should be happy, right? Because I'm not. Yeah, I want Haymitch to win but I didn't want Maysilee to die! She was my friend!" I don't know why I feel like I have to prove it to them.

"That's weird that she'd say it...I mean, I figured she'd be thinking it, but not come out and, like..._say_ it, you know?" Ree makes a shooing gesture at her parents and they leave.

"Sorry girls," Mr. Kary says. "And Allie...good luck with Milana."

"_Good luck_? Is she going to kill me or something?" I'm beginning to panic. "And what was with the birds, anyway? Since when do the Gamemakers manipulate mutts to come after tributes?"

"Since the Quarter Quell, I guess..." We don't talk for very much after that, and the room is slowly filled with sounds of sleep. I lie awake for awhile.

_I'm not happy about Maysilee dying. Hopefully Milana will see that and we'll all be friends again..._

**Hokay! Part Six is done! Sorry if it was kinda rushed at the end...I wanted to post this fast! Review, review, review, and thank you to everyone who reads this :) I really appreciate it :)**


	7. 7

** We are now getting close to the end of the story! So sad...Anyway, I'm not going to ask for reviews anymore...It's weird because people are actually **_**reading and liking**_** this story, which hasn't happened to many of my stories and so I've just gotten into the habit of asking for people to review, so...yes. No more begging from me! ;)**

**And I've just noticed that the little girl from the last chapter isn't supposed to be from Four...since all the FOur tributes were dead... O.o my mistake!**

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!**

I decide to avoid Milana for a few days, hoping to not fight with her anymore. Jack finally got the nerve up to ask Ree out, so they're officially a couple now. A precious couple, too, he does everything she asks him to do and dotes on her completely. She always looks up at him lovingly, nearly always looking shocked that she's so lucky to have him. They're inseparable, and that's why I had such a problem getting Ree by herself. Finally, though, I manage to.

"Listen, I need to ask you a question." We're standing in the awning over a vegetable seller, and she keeps looking over at Jack. I snap my fingers at her. "Please, I need to talk to you!"

"Sorry! He's distracting." I take her by the shoulders and we spin so that I'm facing Jack instead.

"Better? Listen, has Mil said anything else about what happened the other night? I would ask her but she's been ignoring me all week..."

"Well...she's still really upset..."

"Obviously! She just watched her twin get...offed!"

"And she thinks that maybe you were being insensitive...She's still pissed and like really, _really_ sad. I'd give her space..."

"Insensitive..." I scoff under my breath, and realize Ree is squirming. She's uncomfortable, I realize, because we're talking about one of her best friends. "Sorry."

"No, don't worry, just...can we not talk about this anymore?"

"Sure." Ree flashes a ghost of a smile and goes back to Jack. I turn on my heel and go into the bakery and buy the puffiest loaf I can afford. Adem looks taken aback, but when I explain what I'm doing, he nods. Then I go into the candy shop.

"Hello, Allie. What can I get you?" Mr. Donner is red-eyed and looks exhausted, but he's the only one in the shop, as far as I can tell.

"I don't want anything today, sir. Thanks though." He slumps back against the counter and I hold up the loaf of bread. "I brought this for your family. I'm sorry for your loss." The back door of the shop bangs open and Milana stands there, her blonde hair still messy from being outside.

"What do you want."

"I got this for you...I'm really sorry, Mil, I'm not sure what I did but whatever it is I'm sorry!" Her eyes narrow, but she loves puffy bread.

"You can't buy forgiveness, Allaine." She turns and flounces back outside. Mr. Donner shrugs and I hand him the bread.

"Take it anyway." I turn and exit the shop. Mama is waving at me from across the street, so I hurry over to her.

"The Games are starting in five minutes. I'm surprised you weren't glued to the screen five hours beforehand!"

"We're in the final three, Mama. And I was trying to apologize for doing..._whatever_ I did to Mil." She frowns, but doesn't say anything else.

"Allie! 'bout time you showed up!" Papa's boom sounds over the anthem and I settle into the couch next to him. "Your..._friend_...seems to have escaped away from the other tributes, but he hasn't made an appearance yet." Onscreen, the giantess from Two is stalking the lone boy from Seven, who seems to be struggling. Throughout the week, more plants in the arena had become more poisonous and, although it hadn't been shown, I think Seven might have accidently eaten a new toxic plant, because he stumbles along, swiping at things that aren't there and muttering to himself. Two doesn't even have to hide or try to be quiet. She simply comes up behind him like a giant shadow of death and puts her hands over his face and slowly suffocates him. Finally, he falls, and she roots through his bag until she finds a hatchet. She smiles evilly and then looks up in terror as a flood of muddy water comes rushing through the trees at her. She runs but is soon swept up by the water.

"Ladies and gentlemen! We're now down to our final two, the loner from Twelve and the giantess from Two!" Claudius Templesmith's voice cuts over Leezie and Pare's commentary and they shut up. "Will our winner be decided tonight?"

The screen cuts to Haymitch and he, too, has been swept up by the water.

"He can't swim!" I shriek, and grab Papa's forearm frantically. "_He can't swim!_" Haymitch struggles to keep his head above the water and every time his head disappears, I squeal and tighten my grip on Papa. Finally, the two tributes land in clearing close to one another and the water recedes. Mitchie stands, confused, and wrings out the bottom of his shirt. Through the speakers, we can hear him mumbling to himself.

"Damn water...Where the hell am I?" He looks around and freezes, as if hearing someone. He turns just in time to duck Two's fist, and it whiffs the air above him. He says something that the Capitol censors out and reaches into his shirt for his knife, which looks like an ice pick compared to Two's axe.

"I can't watch this!" I bury my face in my knees and Papa roughly grabs the top of my head and forces me to look. The tributes circle each other and Two hisses something at Haymitch, making him angry. He goes to tackle her and she seizes his upper arms and forces him to the ground. Her axe comes dangerously close to his head and I moan and try to look away, only to be directed back at the television by Papa.

"You _will_ watch this! Don't be squeamish!"

Haymitch kicks the giantess in the stomach and she groans and loosens her grip, and he takes the opportunity to drive his knife into her eye socket. Blood fountains out and sprays him in the face. She staggers away and he spits and scrubs at his face. With an inhuman yowl, Two wrenches the knife out of her eye and wraps her fist around it and punches Haymitch in the jaw. The extra weight of the knife sends him reeling and she takes the opening. Her axe slashes at his middle and he doesn't have time to block it. When Papa pries my fingers away from my eyes, Haymitch is on his knees holding his stomach. His shirt is covered in blood and when he lurches to his feet, his arm slips and something gray snakes out of his abdomen. I feel the gorge rise in my throat and I swallow hard and quell the vomit. He stumbles away from her as fast as he can and I realize he's heading for the edge where he found the force field. She walks unsteadily after him, and if it weren't so awful and terrible, their speed might be morbidly comical. I wince at the thought of anyone laughing. _Dark humor...or what?_

"They should just put one of them out of their misery..." Mama is green and her hand flutters around her throat.

"Which one?" I snap angrily. She doesn't answer, only turns more green when the pair totters into the edge clearing and Haymitch trips and collapses right on the brink. Right as he falls, Two flings her axe.

"Don't _make_ me watch this!" I scream and look away. papa doesn't force me this time, but the sounds are enough. There's a sickening thud and a short howl, then silence.

"Look, Allie! _Look_!" Papa pulls my head up and I see Haymitch convulsing on the ground. A yard away, Two lies in the dirt, her own axe buried in her head. The victory trumpets blast out the anthem and a hovercraft descends and a pair of medics come out, and the screen statics to the insignia of the Capitol and Pare and Leezie's excited voices.

"He won? _He won!"_ I scream and release Papa's forearm. I rubs it and I realize how tight I must have been holding on; everything on his arm below the elbow is white. "Mitchie _won!_ He's coming home!" I fling myself on Papa and hug him tight, then Mama, forgetting any anger I have at them at the moment. I pull on my jacket and race down to the Seam and pull open the door to a surprised Hayden.

"Allie! You saw it, then?" He breaks into the biggest smile I've seen on him since he was seven, when he was sick and Jack, Haymitch, and Calvin pooled all of their money to buy him a toy car from a traveler.

"Yeah, that's what I came over for!" Mrs. Abernathy comes into the room and she's crying.

"My boy is coming home! He won, Allie, my little boy won!" Hayden laughs and puts his arm around her.

"_She's had a few drinks..."_ he whispers and takes her back into the living room. When he comes back, he pulls me into a headlock.

"Let me go!" I laugh. He stands back and looks serious.

"Don't lie; is this real? Is Mitch really coming home? He's sliced up bad when they cut out. Mom can't hear it, but I just...he's hurt bad, kid."

"Well...other tributes have been cut up when they win, or whatever, all them are not pretty when they win. Haymitch i'nt the worst I've seen, remember the guy from Nine a few years back?" The victor that year had lost his leg and half of his face before finally somehow shoving his attacker into a lake or something. I don't remember, it was at least eight years ago, and, if I remember correctly, I was half-delirious with a bad flu that had been going around.

"Yeah, but he's got his guts out! _He's holding his insides in, Allie_!"

"Hey! Calm down!" I take his shoulders and make him look at me. "He's going to be fine. He's going to come home and probably trip you when you run up to him, because that's how he is. Then you're going to make fun of him for having a big ol' nasty lookin' scar and you'll be all good, right?

"Right..."

"Good boy. Now, I've got to get back, the monsters are probably on the hunt for me. I just came over to say hi and celebrate for a little bit. See ya tomorrow, I'll come over when they air Mitchie's final interview, 'kay?" Hayden nods and pulls me into a big brotherly bear hug.

"Thanks, Allie." He releases me and waves, and I massage my ribs on the way home.

_He's coming _home.

**Sorry for the extreme length of time, I've been busy! And this chapter...I'm not super happy with it, but I wanted to get something up so my awesome readers/followers would stay with me! :) Again, I apologize if it's rushed or whatever...**


	8. 8

**We're coming to the end...but sine y'all seem to like Allie so much I'll try and postpone the inevitable as long as possible :) I think I can fit in a few more chapters, at least.**

Two days after Haymitch's victory, I'm still in a bubble of happiness. When I go out to meet up with everyone for our bakery day, they are surprised.

"Wow, Al, what's with you today? You're all, like, _happy_, for once!" Calvin steps up and lifts up my hair. "_Hello? Did a body-snatcher take over Allie Binden? Hello? Hello?_" I laugh and jokingly shove him off.

"That's loud, Cal! And _no_, I'm Allie, not a snatcher!"

"Huh, that's weird...seeing as I heard Mitch ain't coming home. He's decided to stay in the Capitol. He found himself a hottie he can order around and who won't sass him."

"_Jack!_ Stop it!" Ree and I gang up on him and manage to knock him over into the dusting of snow on the ground.

"Yeah, he said you've got too much of an attitude for his taste." I smack Cal a good one in the arm and he winces.

"He did not! You're liars, and I _know_ you're happy he won."

"Can we go into the bakery? It's freezing!" Saicha stamps her feet and Hazelle nods agreement.

"Well, okay, but only for Hazelle. _You're_ just gonna ditch us and creep on Adem some more!" Calvin races ahead to escape from Saicha, who's running after him, face bright red in embarrassment.

"_You shut up_!"

"Geez, ladies, what's with the violence today?" Jack holds the door open for everyone and we go and sit in the back. Saicha sneaks off when she thinks no one is looking and stands at the counter, tittering at Adem's brother, Lee.

"Jack, would you _please_ get me a slice of bread? I don't want to move..." Jack looks down at Ree and they seem to forget everyone else is there until Cal hauls him up by his hair.

"All right, buddy boy, let's serve these beautiful ladies. Oh, and Allie." We toss our money at them and then lean in close to talk as soon as they're gone.

"_So_, Allie, what're you and Mitch going to do when he comes back?" Hazelle nudges me in the side and Ree giggles. I smirk and decide to fool with them.

"Oh, you know...Probably just have a lengthy discussion about world politics and then go to sleep in our separate houses...The usual."

"_Lies!_" Ree slams her hands on the table. "Separate houses, yeah right," she snorts, and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, shut up." I fold my arms and refuse to give any more details. _I_ don't even know what'll happen when he comes home.

"_I_ know what will happen between our future hubby and wifey when said hubby gets back." THe boys are back, and I see Adem's blonde curls trying to sneak over to our table without being seen.

"Scootch over, Adem's coming," I whisper, and they do. "And no, Jack, you don't."

"Oh yes I do! He told me!" I take the bread Cal hands out to me and shake my head.

"Nuh-uh!"

Hazelle leans forward. "Would you two quit arguing? We'll find out what happens when it happens, okay?"

"Yes ma'am!" Cal snaps off a salute and Hazelle laughs. We sit with just the sound of chewing before Ree speaks up.

"I just noticed something! Calvin. Hazelle. _You two_ are the _only_ ones at this table, besides you," she motions at Adem, "who aren't in a relationship. You should fix that."

"Aw, no..." Hazelle protests, but not very enthusiastically. She's watching Cal's reaction.

"Well. That came out of nowhere." He stands up and wipes his hands on his pants. "Got to go, children, I have better places to be. Come on, Elle, let's go!" He holds out his hands and she takes it, sticking her tongue out at us as she leaves. We crowd around the frosty window to watch them. Cal looks over his shoulder and then pulls Hazelle into the vegetable seller's awning. A few seconds, then she throws her arms around him and they leave holding hands.

"He asked her! _No way!_" High fives all around, and we return to our table. Saicha sees Adem and runs over, sliding into the chair next to him.

"Hi, Adem! You should've come and said hi to me!" She leans closer and he leans away. Jack pulls Ree onto his lap and they scoot closer to me.

"Sorry to break up this party, but I should be going..." I rise and Jack and Ree follow suit. Adem's eyes plead for us to stay but Jack shakes his head, laughing.

"Sorry, pal, but the girlie wants to go, so I've got to follow. You know how it is." I say good-bye to them at the corner and I'm just about to turn onto my street when Hazelle comes running out of a side street.

"_Wha-?_ Oh! Hi! What're you-"

"Calvin asked me out!"

"For real?" She nods happily and bounces on her toes.

"Yeah! We're going to go to Greasy Sae's stand for dinner." I wrinkle my nose.

"The woman is a poor excuse for a butcher. Here, come on in and I'll get ya some real meat and you guys can make your dinner together. Reduced price!"

"Oh, thank you! I hate Greasy Sae's soup, but Cal said it's all he can afford."

"Well, I'll help you out." We go in and I pull on my leather apron. It's the smallest one on the rack and the least bloody. I pick up the big knife and carefully slice up a slab of beef into pieces, then bag it for her. "I hate bloody meat, but Papa won't give you the reduced price. I'll lie and say someone bought the dog and I forgot to write it down."

"_Thank you!_" She sets the money on the counter and I swipe it into the cashbox as she walks out. Papa comes in just as I shut it.

"Hey, Allie. What're you doing?" I usually avoid the shop at all costs and he looks confused to see me willingly working inside.

"Oh, um, a customer just left. They bought part of the dog." I motion at the general area of said dog and Papa nods.

"All right. Don't record it, we're not supposed to sell dog." I nod and take off my apron.

"Can't we put flowers or something in here? It stinks." Papa laughs.

"It's winter, kid, there's no flowers in winter." He takes the giant knife from me. "So, is sad girl gone now? Since your..." he coughs. "..._friend_ will be coming home. You all done bein' depressed?"

"Yessir! Only if you and Mama try to like him, though. He's really nice, Daddy, and he's been my boyfriend for almost three years! You didn't mind him when we were best friends!"

"That's because he wasn't kissin' my baby girl then." Papa leans forward like he might hug me or something but just rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Yeah, okay." He nods and pulls a cide of goat from the refrigerator and starts hacking away at it. I take that as my cue to leave and go into the house. Mama stirs something in a pot and when she turns away it starts to bubble over. I go and blow on it so it doesn't spill and she pinches her lips together.

"I was just going to do that, child. Don't do that!" she snaps as I pick out a noodle from the pot with a fork and eat it.

"Needs more spice!" I dodge her halfhearted whack with the spoon and go out into the television area and flick it on.

"It's not going to be on until tonight, okay?"

"I just want to see if they have any promos on yet! Jeez, what's wrong with you today?"

"There's _nothing_ wrong!"

"Fine!" The shouting reaches Papa and he pokes his head out and just as quickly goes back into the shop when Mama whirls around to him. She throws her hands into the air and violently stirs the pot. The clanging fills the house and I roll my eyes and give up on looking for promos.

Dinner consists of weak soup (Mama didn't take my advice about spices) with noodles and chunks of fatty meat. Based on the amount of fat, I guess that we're enjoying a rare treat: pork!

"Pork?" I ask incredulously, examining the pink flesh.

"Yup. Nobody bought any today, so we've got pork today." Papa drains the last of his helping and burps. Mama shoots daggers at him and he goes red.

"Houseful of whores and bums..." she mutters as she clears the table. I grit my teeth, rise, and go after her.

"What the _heck_ do you have against me? I haven't done anything, but every chance you get you call me a tramp or a whore!" She turns around and sighs.

"It isn't _you_, exactly..."

"Then what is it?"

"It's the people you choose to hang around with! The girls, yes, fine! But Jack Everdeen and Calvin Hawthorne are _Seam_ boys, Allaine! Don't you care what people might think?" I laugh mirthlessly and she pouts.

"You're kidding, right?" She folds her arms.

"No, I'm not! It's fine when you're little and don't know any better, but you're extremely involved with the Seam! It's unhealthy!"

"Yes, because I'm going to catch ill because I hang out with Jack and Cal."

"And your _boyfriend_..." The word is spat out and hangs in the air. I snap.

"_Shut up_! You don't even know him! You think, that because the Seam is poor and stuff, and there's a few morphlings and drunks staggering around, that _everyone_ is like that! They aren't! Haymitch isn't, Jack isn't, Cal and Hayden and Mrs. Abernathy and _everyone else_ is NOT!" I'm screaming at her and she looks shocked. "Maybe you should try to get to know them, because you know what? THey're a hell of a lot more decent then some of the town people." I look pointedly at her.

"What are you implying, young lady? Don't you think that maybe I'm only thinking of you-"

"Yeah, right. Just stop, all right? I'm not a whore!" I storm out and flip through the television channels until I land on Caeser's channel. "It's starting, if anyone's interested."

Papa comes in, followed by Mama. She pinches her lips together and lingers in the doorway. _Whatever_. Caeser runs onto the stage and throws his hands up.

"Are you ready to see the Victor?" he cries, and the crowd roars approval. He waves to someone offstage, and Haymitch comes into view, supported by a young woman in her twenties, probably his stylist.

_ Wow._ The little boy from school is completely gone. Even eleven years after first grade, his eyes had always been bright and he's always had a ready smile. The vulnerable young man that I last saw crying and writhing on the ground is gone, too. His prep team and his medical team must've been working throughout the night, because any sign of being in the arena is gone. Except his eyes, and the fact that he's not smiling.

"Haymitch Abernathy, everyone! You're a sight for sore eyes, young man!" Caeser seizes his hand and pumps it up and down. After the general greetings, they go and sit. Caeser takes his usual cushy chair, and Haymitch perches uncertainly on the edge of the elaborate gold throne.

"Well now! This certainly is a surprise! A victory from District 12! Our first in, what, almost thirty years? Forty? Something like that. Anyway, let's air our highlights from this season, shall we?" And for one and one half hour, we get to relive all the moments from the 50th Hunger Games. A smile toys at the corner of Haymitch's mouth when they play clips from the friends-and-family interviews, but for the most part he stays stony.

"How'd you manage it, Haymitch?" Caeser leans forward after the clips are done and stares intently at Haymitch.

"Well...I'm still trying to figure that out myself. When I find out, you'll be the first to know."

"Good to see you sense of, oh, let's say _sarcasm_, is still intact. What are your plans when you go home?" Haymitch takes time to answer this.

"First things first. At the train station? I'm going to hug my mom, punch my brother for hitting on my girl while I was gone, and then kiss said girl until she can't breath. You've met her, sir, right?" Caeser nods and winks.

"She's quite the charmer, and is very fond of you. Your brother probably won't appreciate that much, but hey, it's what siblings are known for!" The crowd laughs and I feel Mama's piercing gaze.

I smile. Only two more days, and then I get to keep him forever.

** Kinda fluffy at the end, but the only fluff so far is Jack/Ree or Cal/Hazelle. And this **_**is**_** a Haymitch romance story, after all, it needed some fluff! :)**


	9. 9 Caution: rated a light M

**Thanks for the wonderful response of the previous chapter! :) **

** Oh and this chapter might be rated a light M...if you don't like implied love scenes or whatever, then...well I warned you.**

The day has finally arrived. Haymitch is coming home today.

Mama and I have come to a sort of peace, for the moment. Since our argument the other night, we haven't really spoken until now. I go to her room, where she's getting ready to go to the train station.

"Mama?"

"Yes?" She widens her eyes and carefully applies coloring on her eyelids.

"Can I borrow the dress from the interview again? And will you brush my hair out?" I usually despise when she insists on making me look "presentable", but _today_ is a special occasion.

"It's hanging up in the closet. When you're dressed, come back in here." I thank her and take the dress into my little room. There's a small, scratched mirror hanging on one wall. After pulling on the green dress and my gray socks, I go back to her room and sit on the bed.

"Why don't you comb out your hair everyday?" clucks Mama as she gets stuck on a knot at the base of my neck. I shrug and she taps me on the head with the brush. "Really, though! You'd be much prettier if you actually put in some effort." _Yes, because coloring your eyes and hair makes you beautiful._

"Thanks for the confidence boost, Mom." She finishes brushing and I spring off the bed and bounce on the balls of my feet. "Can we go now? The train will be here in, like, _ten minutes_! And I want to be there when it gets there!"

"A little waiting never hurt anyone."

"You'd be there first if Dad was on that train!" I shout and run out, grabbing jacket and shoes on the way. _God, I'm so sick of her._

Jack, Ree, Calvin, Hazelle, and Adem are already at the station when I arrive. At the same time, Mrs. Abernathy and Hayden get there. Mrs. Abernathy looks like she's been up all night and Hayden keeps grinning. Hayden runs over and so does Saicha. Adem goes and stands with his family.

"Hiya, Allie! Why're you here? You _do _ know that he decided to stay in the Cap'tal, right?" Hayden smirks and I stick my tongue out at him.

"Liar! I saw the show!" He laughs and then someone shouts about how they can see the train. I strain my eyes looking, and finally I can see a puff of steam and hear the faint whistle. I can barely contain my excitement, and Calvin and Jack make comments about how I look like a squirrel on caffeine. Hayden purposely steps in front of me and blocks my view, and then Jack reaches over and covers Hayden's eyes so he can't see either.

The train screeches to a stop and the dust slowly settles, coating everyone in fine gray powder. First off the train is the announcer, Wellik, and he waves to the crowd. Silence greets the man who takes children away, but he shrugs and stands off to one side. Finally, _finally,_ Haymitch emerges from the train, coughing and waving the dust away from him.

He's thin. A lot thinner than he was before he left, and his face looks more like an adult's. His hair's shorter and his bangs just brush his eyebrows, instead of flopping over his eyes like they used to. He steps off the platform and the crowd erupts in cheering and applause. Mrs. Abernathy runs through the crush of people and she hugs her son tight, then holds him at arm's length and makes a comment, presumably about his weight loss. He laughs, and from where I am I can hear him. Hayden grabs my hand and we shove through everyone. After seizing him and rubbing the top of Hayden's head, roaring with laughter, Haymitch punches him good-naturedly.

"So, did ya hit on Allie while I was gone?"

"Ask her yourself, idiot." Hayden moves out of the way and Haymitch's eyes land on me. Before I can say anything, he's stepped forward and I'm spinning in his arms. He sets me down and I grab his face and pull it close to mine.

"I missed you, sweetheart."

"I missed you too." He kisses me and this was worth the wait. Hayden's snide comments fade into the background and there isn't anyone besides Mitchie and I in the world.

"I love you." He smiles and hugs me tighter, so tight that I squeak.

"I love you too, princess." Someone coughs behind Haymitch and we shuffle around to see who it is. It's Wellik, holding out a microphone. I notice the cameras focused on us and blush.

"Sorry, Haymitch, but the rest of Panem wants to see you too." Haymitch sighs and releases me, one arm keeping a tight hold around my shoulders. I snuggle into his side and wait while Wellik asks inane questions about whether it's good to be home. The crowd slowly disperses, some people clapping Haymitch on the shoulder or congratulating him. Only after we turn to leave do I see the Donners.

Milana stands with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face.

"I'll be right back." Mitchie kisses me gently and goes over to where Mrs. Donner has buried her head in her husband's shoulder. Haymitch shakes Mr. Donner's hand and says something quietly that makes Mr. Donner smile weakly. Mrs. Donner pats Haymitch's arm and then throws herself at him, sobbing openly into his shirt. Embarrassed, Mr. Donner pulls her away and they go back into town. Milana is the only one still there.

"Look, I-" Anything Haymitch was going to say is gone when Milana hits him in the stomach and then runs off. He shakes his head and comes back to me.

"Worth a try, I guess." Hayden worms his way between Mitchie and I and I "accidentally" step on his foot so he trips. "Nice one, kiddo." He leans in. I smile and we stop walking and just kiss.

###

At the big celebration that night, Haymitch doesn't let me go. He either keeps his hand wrapped firmly around mine or his arm around me, always looking over and smiling, as if to reassure himself that I'm still there.

"What is with you today? You haven't let me out of your sight!" He laughs and kisses my forehead.

"Because I don't want to not see you. Been away too long."

"My mother is giving you the meanest look ever." He turns to look and then waves hugely at my parents. Mama sneers at him and Papa keeps his face blank.

"Well they aren't very nice today, are they?" I shake my head and we turn back to our plates, heaping with food.

"Is this anything as good as they had in the Capitol?" He examines the plate carefully. I laugh when he picks up a piece of chicken and squints carefully at it. Then he sets it down and sighs.

"Nope. Food isn't as good. But," he turns to look at me. "The view is _much_ better." I giggle and shove him gently.

"You're so cheesy!"

"Well then! I don't agree." He swipes his finger in a pool of melty cheese and then smears it on my nose. "_You're _the one with cheese all over your face." I put a chicken breast on his head and go back to eating.

Hayden comes running over and sets himself on the edge of our table. "So, are you two going to be making use of the big ol' fluffy mattress in our new house? Or are you just going to be boring and go back to your separate houses? I think Allie's parents might hate you forever if she doesn't come home..."

"Get off, weirdo!" Haymitch shoves Hayden and Hayden dodges it.

"You have chicken on your head!" Mitchie flings the chicken at him and Hayden runs back to wherever he came from, cackling.

Everyone clears out of the square and I decide to go to Victor's Village with the Abernathys. Mrs. Abernathy walks with Haymitch and I, while Hayden runs ahead and then complains because we walk too slow.

"Maybe you should walk slower!" I call, and in the dark I can see Hayden make a face at me.

"How old his he again? Four?"

"He just missed you, Mitch." Haymitch puts his free arm around his mom.

"Missed you all too." I feel him shudder. "Never again..."

In the house, Mrs. Abernathy winks at us and goes to inspect the kitchen. Hayden lingers in the shadow of the stairs for a moment, then leaves when he realizes we aren't going to do anything while he's there.

The moment the sound of his door latching reaches us, Haymitch turns toward me and our lips lock. Within minutes, he's shoving me against the wall and kissing me hungrily. I respond just as eagerly, and when a quiet moan escapes me, he grins and rocks his hips against me.

"Allie..." he whispers, and I kiss down his cheek and onto his shoulder, where his shirt has slightly fallen away, revealing bare skin. "I missed you so much."

"I know...I love you, baby." He shifts his weight on his feet and there's a sharp pain on my foot. "Ow!" He pulls away.

"Stepped on your foot...Sorry..." I laugh and he presses his forehead against mine. His rough thumb traces the edge of my cheek and he kisses me again. I put my hands under his shirt and rub his stomach. He lifts me up gently and carries me up to his room.

"Okay?" he asks uncertainly, after setting me on the bed. I nod.

"Yeah..." He takes my face in his hands.

"We don't have to, really."

"DO you not want to or something?"

"Well, no, I do! But if you don't..." For an answer, I tug impatiently at his shirt and he rids me of Mama's dress.

###

The next morning, I wake up to find a warm chest pressed against my face. I wriggle free of the tangle of blankets and find Haymitch is already awake, watching me. A little smile plays around the corners of his mouth.

"Hi," I say. _Smooth._

"Hi." He kisses me once, carefully. When he pulls away I see his lips are swollen and he hair sticks up everywhere. I probably don't look much better, and I try to smooth down my hair. He laughs and takes my hands off my head.

"You look fine." He rolls over and gets up, pulling a blanket around himself. "We should probably make an appearance downstairs..."

"Ugh...okay..." I hold out my hands and he pulls me up. I dress in his shirt from yesterday and a pair of cotton pants and we go downstairs. Hayden is still in the kitchen, finishing what looks like an omelette.

"Good morning," he greets us. I go to the refrigerator and peer inside.

"Hi, Hayden. Can I make you breakfast, Mitchie?" He groans.

"_No_, please don't! I've been waited on for practically a month, I want to do something for myself!" After trying pointlessly to hold onto the pan, he finally wrestles it out of my hands and steers me to sit next to Hayden. "I _want_ to cook."

"But you've been away for practically a month! I want you to sit and let me cook!"

"You burn everything!"

"I do not!"

"Would you two please stop arguing? I almost prefer your racket last night that kept me up!" Hayden wiggles his eyebrows and makes creaking noises, followed by a few grunts. Haymitch shoves his brother out of his chair and Hayden lands heavily on the floor. "What was that for?"

"Don't _ever_ do that again!" For some reason, Mitchie is furious, and I doubt that it's completely Hayden's fault. Hayden gives Haymitch the finger and storms out.

"Mitchie! What was that?"

"Just sit down, please. I'm going to make breakfast." His voice breaks on the last words and he turns around to face the stove.

"Haymitch...?" I go behind him and lightly put my hands on his back. "What's wro-"

"_Leave me alone!_" he shouts, and shrugs free of my hand. "Just sit down, dammit!"

"What-?" He drops the pan and swears loudly. "What's wrong, Haymitch? Are you okay? Jesus, give me an answer!" I tentatively put my hand on his shoulder and I feel him trembling. "Hey..."

"I hate it. I hate this. I don't deserve..." He shudders and sinks down on the floor. I go on my knees next to him. "They...their _eyes_, Allie, it was awful!"

"It's okay..." He turns and buries his face in my shoulder. I rock back and forth and make what I hope to be are comforting noises.

"Every night,_ every night_, since I woke up from that drugged hell I was in after the game...I can't blink without seeing James, or Maysilee, or the girl from Two, or any of them. You don't even know..._Nobody_ knows!" I feel something wet soaking into my shirt and I wrap my arms entirely around him.

"You're safe now. Nobody's going to hurt you...They can't get you." We sit in the kitchen, on the floor, for a long time before he wipes his face and gives me a watery, half hearted smile.

"Guess I should ap-pologize to Hayden." Mitchie gets up and leaves the kitchen. I see Hayden standing outside in the yard and Haymitch says something to him, making him turn. They embrace and come inside,

I end up making breakfast. I also end up burning breakfast, causing both boys to roll their eyes and tell me I should take lessons from Adem.

** Hokay...that was very...let's say **_**interesting**_**, to write. Kind of hard...I was self-conscious and all during that middle part. Hopefully I managed to make it...erm...'realistic'.**

** So yes that chapter, I'd say, is rated a light M.**


	10. 10

**Well after all the worrying I did over the last chapter, it seemed to be received pretty well :D **

** And here comes Part...Ten? I think?**

"'ey! You two! Get a room!" I try and put my hand over Haymitch's mouth to get him to shut up. He licks my palm and I squeal, pulling my hand away. "Really! There's little eyes around! Keep it family friendly!" Jack and Ree went off on their own while the four of us and Calvin and Hazelle were taking a walk. Cal had mischievously proposed that we follow, so we did. Turns out that Jack and Ree's favorite place is between a coal shed and a storage building. There's a little fence surrounding the area.

"Nobody said you all had to watch!" Jack breaks away from Ree long enough to retort, but their faces are soon locked together again and Jack flicks off Calvin, Haymitch, Hazelle, and I.

"Come on, Jackie boy, save yourself a little dignity! I though we had something special!" Cal gets on his knees and pretends to be heartbroken. Hazelle laughs and pulls him back up.

It's been four days since Mitchie came home, and this is one of the first times we've been able to get with our friends. Ree had invited Milana and Adem to come with, but Adem had to work and Milana had just said no. So we're stuck with the couple who has just discovered one another's tongues.

"Why are we _watching_ them?" laughs Hazelle, and I agree. We try and pull our boyfriends away from the fence, but both hold on tightly and wave us to go on, they'll catch up.

"Yeah, after Jack comes and beats 'em."

"I'm surprised he already hasn't!" We link arms and walk aimlessly through the square, carefully skirting the stocks and gallows. There's no one in the stocks today, which is odd enough in itself, and I'm happy we don't see a poacher banging his hands against the wood for once. The Peacekeepers still patrol the edge of the electric fence, though the buzzing of the fence cuts through the peaceful mumbling of passersby.

"So, I haven't asked you yet! I didn't see you coming home from Victor's Village the other night. Helping Mitch 'recover' from the Games?" She winks and nudges me.

"You stalking me or something? That's creepy..."

"Answer the question! We're all _dying _ to know!" I smirk and she gapes at me. "Did you..._You did_! No way! What was it like?"

"Um...it was nice..." I say, slightly embarrassed.

"Did it _hurt_? Was he any good?" I push her lightly.

"Hazelle!"

"Was it?"

Well it didn't, uhm, _hurt_, exactly...and he was _fine_, thank you very much." I don't mention the fact that he stepped on my toes or bumped my head on the railing on the way upstairs, nor that he got tangled up in his pants and fell. _Might as well let her discover it's not perfect for herself_.

"I'm jealous...Cal wants to, but we just started going out and I _don't_ want to. Yet."

"Well hope you enjoy it...How _are_ you and Cal, by the way?" I want to steer the topic _away_ from mine and Haymitch's...private life.

"We're good! I had him over for dinner yesterday, and Mom said he's a real gentleman. Papa said he's a bit scruffy but he'll do."

"Your dad _would_ say that!" She laughs.

"Yeah, well...Anyway, Cal said my mom cooks good, and that I have to come over for dinner sometime, too."

"Good luck getting any food-his brothers will prob'ly eat it all before you get any!" The boys come running up then, and Hazelle jumps onto Cal's back. He groans and acts like he's going to fall.

"Real _mature, _Calvin Hawthorne. _This_ is how you treat a lady." I'm unprepared and scream when Haymitch lifts me into a fireman's carry.

"Put me down! You put me down _right now_, Haymitch Abernathy!"

"Or what?"

"Or I'll tell your mother!" Cal and Mitchie scoff. I'm not put down.

"_Haymitch!_" I laugh and he spins in a circle. Finally, he sets me down and I walk like a drunk while I clear my head of the dizziness. We continue our walk and chatter aimlessly about nothing. Jack and Ree rejoin us and Cal and Haymitch tease Jack about his messy hair. Hazelle and I don't say anything to Ree, but she has a little smile flickering at the corners of her mouth.

"I'm cold! Let's go somewhere warm!"

"Like where? I think the bakery is sick of having us there without buying anything..."

"I dunno, how bout the sweet shop?" The boys are practically drooling at the idea of candy, so we head over to where the sweet scent of chocolate cuts through the sharp odor of coal fires. A bell dings over our heads when we come in.

"Hey, how're you all doin'? What can I getcha?" Mr. Donner and Milana's uncle stand at the counter. Hazelle, Ree, and I go to inspect the jars full of hard candy while the boys stay at the front and admire the shelves of chocolate.

"Look at that! It's swirled!" Ree points to a jar of orange and white swirled candy.

"I've had that before! It tastes like oranges, and it's _really_ good." Hazelle's short description makes up Ree's mind.

"I'd like one of those, please!" Milana's uncle gets one out for her and she pops it into her mouth. Her eyes widen. "Oh wow, you've all got to try one of these!" He scoops one out for me and I agree, it's amazing.

"_Wow!_ Look at that!" Haymitch is standing in front of the chocolate display and is staring at a chunk of chocolate sculpted to look like a tree.

"Hey, Dad, you said you needed help in the store?" Milana comes down from upstairs and ignores everyone in the shop.

"Yeah, can you look after this while I run to the back and restock the malt sticks?"

"'kay." She goes behind the counter and I hear her sigh when she sees who's in the shop.

"Hi, Mil! What's up?" Ree brings a peppermint stick to the front and pays for it.

"Not much," Milana hands Ree the candy and folds her arms. "Why're you all in here, anyway? I thought the bakery was everyone's favorite."

"We figured that the Mellarks are sick of us hanging around and not really buying much." Milana waves me over to the counter, and cautiously I go.

"Listen, um...I'm sorry about what happened that night...I shouldn'tve said that stuff, and...yeah. Sorry." She lowers her eyes and runs her finger across the sticky top of the counter.

"S'okay. You'd just watched your sister...yeah, well, anyway, it's okay." She smiles.

"Free piece of choc'late make it better?"

"Uh, _yeah!_" She cuts off a corner of a huge chunk of chocolate and hands it to me in a wax paper twist. The boys decide not to get anything and we leave.

"So are we all friends again?" asks Ree when the bell clinks over us on the way out.

"Yup!" Gradually, the six of us drift into couples and go our separate directions.

"Are you comin' over tonight again?" Haymitch and I stop at a bench and wipe off the snow to sit down.

"I think so...I'm not sure, Mama and Papa probably want to see me for awhile." I fix his hat so it's straight instead of hanging crooked.

"'cause, well...Maybe you could keep some stuff at my house, in case you spend the night again...So you don't have to wear my clothes, y'know?" He catches a piece of my flyaway hair and twirls it idly in his fingers.

"Okay! Let's go to my house and tell the monsters that I'm not going to be with them every night." We rise and head over to the butcher.

"Daddy! Where are you guys?" I call when we go into the house.

"We're upstairs!" Papa's voice booms through the house and we go up the stairs and into our television area.

"Hey, Allie! Hello, Haymitch." Papa gets off the couch, where he and Mama are watching a stupid commercial for skin implants.

"Hi, Mr. Binden, Mrs. Binden." Haymitch and my father shake hands.

"So, what do you need?" Papa is always brusque around Mitchie, and today is no exception.

"Well, Daddy...I was just wondering if we have a box..."

"Why?"

"Um..." I'm saved from having to answer when Haymitch interrupts me.

"Sir, I was thinkin' Allie could keep some of her stuff at my house, in case she falls asleep over there, so she doesn't have to wake up and come home."

"You two want to move in together, that right?" I look up at Haymitch and see him swallow nervously.

"Yessir." Papa sighs and rubs the back of his neck.

"There's a box in the shop, kiddo. Keep some stuff here, just...just in case." I'm too surprised that he agreed so quickly that I don't say anything.

"I'll go get the box. Thank you, sir!" Haymitch exits the room quickly.

"Thank you, Daddy! Thank you so much!" I throw my arms around him and he pats my back.

"You're getting older, girl, and I figured it wouldn't be very long for that question to come up..."

"Why hasn't Mama said anything?" I whisper.

"Because I've convinced her that he's a good kid for you and she needs to realize that nothin's gonna happen." I smile hugely and kiss his cheek.

"Thank you!" I hover for a minute, unsure of whether to thank Mama too, then settle on patting her shoulder lightly. She doesn't move her eyes, but she flinches at my touch. I leave the room and meet Haymitch at the door to my room.

"So, clothes, toothbrush...other stuff..."Haymitch blushes when he sees my bathroom kit.

"Oh, be quiet!" He holds the box and I put essentials in it. I also add a photograph from when I was little of my mother and father on either side. This is the last _recorded_ memory I have when we all look happy.

"Aw, so cute," says Haymitch sarcastically. He points to me in the middle. "But who's that little troll?" I pinch him and he apologizes. After packing, we go back to Victor's Village and I persuade him to let me use a drawer in the bathroom and a few hangars in his closet.

He needs quite a bit of persuading.

** Chapter ten is done! After a break...I've been outside enjoying the Snowpocalypse that has again descended on the Midwest of America :)**


	11. 11

**We're getting close to the part that nobody's looking forward too...dun dun dunnnnn :( BUT NOT THIS CHAPTER**

Ten days. That's how long Haymitch's been home, and every morning I wake up, scared that it will never have happened, that he's still in the arena. I'm not the only one scared of this either.

In the middle of the night, something wakes me. I open my eyes slowly, trying to clear the sleep-fuzzies from my brain, and see Haymitch sitting on the edge of the bed, head in his hands.

"Hey..." I mutter sleepily, and crawl up next to him, pulling blankets with me. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah...I'm fine." He wipes at his nose and in the dim light from the moon I see that his eyes are puffy.

"Nightmare?"

"...not exactly...Do you think there might have been a way for me to save her? Maysilee, I mean."

"Honestly?" He nods, and I sigh inwardly before continuing. "No. I don't. Maybe if you hadn't split up, but then one of you might have had to kill the other...And do you really want to have faced the birds?"

"Yeah, but...Every time I close my eyes, _every time_, the birds are coming at someone I know, or I see that girl from Two, her eye..."

"She scared me, and I never met her!" He laughs weakly and wraps his arms around me.

"Scared me too." His heart's jumping around in his chest, and I can feel it even through my cocoon of blankets.

"Come on back to sleep. No more nightmares."

"It's not a nightmare!"

"Oh, shut up."

###

The next morning, I find myself alone in the bed. The sound of water running tells me where Haymitch is. I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and, as the covers slide away, something cold rubs against my leg. Cold metal. I fish whatever it is out and examine it.

It's a knife.

"_Haymitch!_" I fling open the bathroom door and Mitchie frantically grabs a towel to cover himself.

"Personal space!" I raise an eyebrow and he goes back to brushing his teeth. His hair is wet and it sticks up all over.

"_Why_ is there a _knife_ in the bed?" I demand, and he spits in the sink.

"Protection. Turn around, please!" I do, and glare at his foggy reflection in the mirror.

"From what. Hayden? Please, I think when his snoring stops is when you need to worry."

"No, I don't know. Just makes me feel safer, m'kay? And don't argue," he says as I open my mouth. "Seriously."

I hold up my hands, mock surrendering. "Okay! Just, keep it away from me...Creeps me out when I find weapons in my bed." He pushes me out of the bathroom and the door clicks shut. I flop onto the bed and wait for my turn in the bathroom.

"All yours, sweetheart." He pecks my cheek and goes downstairs. In there, I dress and primp. Primping in District Twelve is just a hair-brushing and teeth brushing. Capitol people would be _scandalized_! From the programs on Capitol life, _primping_ for them takes at least four hours, regardless of gender! I find that ridiculous.

"Hey, Allie! Hayden has decided to be a chef today! Bring down your poison antidotes, 'kay?" From downstairs, there is a thump and the sound of feet pounding around, closely followed my Mrs. Abernathy yelling at her boys to stop being so obnoxious. Then silence.

"Was there a war going on down here or something?" As I come into the kitchen, I see there's a chair knocked over and half a bag of flour spilled on the floor. Mrs. Abernathy stands in the other entryway, hands on her hips and glaring at her sons. They're both on their knees, sweeping flour into their cupped hands.

"No, your boyfriend and his brother decided to act like five-year-olds and trash my new house. How old are they, again?"

"Three? Four? Something like that, I think." I step around the boys and grab a glass of milk from the refrigerator. "I'm going to town, does anyone need anything?"

"Flour, if you don't mind." Mrs. Abernathy hands me a little pile of money and she laughs, amazed. "I still don't believe we're rich!" I wave good-bye and Haymitch gives me a hangdog look.

"Wait for me?"

"Yeee...nope!" I spin out of reach of his hand and leave. The cold winter air shocks me when I step outside and I freeze for a moment and grope back in the doorway for a jacket. I pull on one of Haymitch's coats and head into town, where I'm immediately swarmed by the usual group.

"Allie! See, Hazelle, I told you she was still alive! That big ol' house hasn't eaten her, silly!" Ree jokingly gives Hazelle a reproachful look and Hazelle rolls her eyes.

"Whatever." We go into the general store and I buy the flour.

"I love this store...it smells nice." Jack closes his eyes and walks around with his nose up, 'accidentally' bumping into shelves and setting jars teetering. The shop owner gives us a dirty look and we usher Cal and Jack out before any damage is caused.

"You know the shopkeeper hates people our age there! Why do you always have to act like a child in there?" I back away with Ree and Jack, from the bickering pair. Cal looks surprised and tries to reason with Hazelle, but it soon blows into a fullscale argument. A pair of hands come onto my shoulders and draw me away from my friends. I resist, but then cave when a familiar voice whispers in my ear to trust him. Haymitch puts something cold around my neck and I look down to see a silver chain glinting against the dark blue wool of my 'borrowed' jacket.

"What's this?" I turn around and see him smiling embarrassedly at me.

"I asked Anguria, my stylist, if she could find something small and pretty for you if I won. So she said that the cost goes on my tab, whatever that means." I pick up the pendant attached to the chain and see a small emerald wrapped in a silver heart.

"Thank you." I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him lightly. "I love it!" When I speak, my lips move his, and he laughs.

"Helloo? Haymitch, _Haymitch_, where are you?" Mrs. Abernathy's sudden frantic and panicked voice cuts through his laugh and he pushes me aside to meet her at the mouth of the alley.

"Mom?" She grabs his shoulders as he backs up a step, obviously taken aback by her state. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Hayden, he's..._he's gone_!" Haymitch's shoulders tense and he takes another step back.

"Mom, are you sure? Maybe he came into town..."

"No! I left the kitchen and I was in my room and I heard a noise so I came back and he was _gone_, Haymitch!"

"But, but...let's ask around, okay? He might be off with a girl..." Mrs. Abernathy smacks his arm, hard.

"_Haymitch_! Your brother is missing, damn it! Be serious!"

"Okay, sorry...Hey, Allie, maybe go and hang out with Ree and them for a while?" I nod and hug Mrs. Abernathy as I pass them. She pats my back.

"What's goin' on?" asks Adem, who seems to have joined the group. "Why's Mitch's mom so upset? She cam runnin' out of the Village so fast..."

"Hayden's missing!" The group is silent. They were probably expecting something like "the cat's stuck" or "I locked myself out".

"For real?"

"Yeah, she said that she came into the kitchen and he was gone." Jack, Cal, and Adem go in the same direction Haymitch and his mother did, saying they should help.

"I hope they find him!" says Hazelle. Nobody ever goes missing for long in Twelve, they always show up sooner or later. Sometimes alive.

But usually not.


	12. 12

**Hello everybody! This might be the last chapter posted for a little while...brief hiatus because of ACT and MME testing! Extreme crap, but if I fail then I fail at life, and so these tests prettyyyyy much make-or-break the rest of my life...So I'll see you all at the end! **

Haymitch has been despondent for three days. Hayden hasn't shown up again, and whoever took him left no clues as to who they might be. Mrs. Abernathy hasn't left the house. I've been cooking and cleaning for the two of them, and doing any grocery shopping. The men of Twelve were all very helpful, but Cal privately told me that nobody thought Hayden would show up. After three days, it's almost hopeless.

"Good morning Mitchie! You want eggs?" He stumbles into the kitchen and flops onto a stool at the counter.

"Yeah, if you don't mind...thanks, princess." He gets up and gives me a quick squeeze around the shoulders. I stand tall and kiss his cheek.

"You need a shave!" He flashes me a quick smile and goes into the refrigerator, handing me the egg carton on his way back to his chair. "Thank you!" It's kind of exhausting, trying to stay positive for everyone. I notice the faint scent of stale whiskey on Haymitch's shirt when he walks by, but I keep quiet. He's just lost his brother after all.

"Here ya go!" I hand him a plate piled with eggs and a slice of bread. He thanks me and digs in. I sit across from him.

"Did you eat already? I'll make you something if you want..." Haymitch starts to rise but I push him back down.

"You eat, and then get yourself cleaned up! We're meeting everyone at the bakery in an hour and a half. That includes you."

"Okay, okay, sheesh! I'll be ready before ya know it, sweetheart!" He quickly polishes off the remaining eggs and I have to drag him up to the shower. He protests that he's clean, and he doesn't need a shower. I get in his face and tell him that he stinks like the alley behind a bar, and if he doesn't shower then there will be severe consequences. Eventually however, I coax his clothes off and get him under the water.

"Can you manage to wash yourself, or do I have to do that for you too?" I call through the door.

"I'm not sure...why don't you come in here and help me?" I giggle and shove my head inside to tell him to act like a man, when he grabs me and pulls me under the spray with him.

"I _am_ acting like a man!" Soon we are both clothing free and I end up getting cleaner too.

We're the last ones to the bakery, and we're met with much complaining when we finally arrive. Jack tells Mitchie that if he can't manage to control himself that there might have to be an intervention. Mitchie tells Jack where he can put his intervention, and I see that interacting with people has brought Haymitch somewhat out of his funk.

"We couldn't wait for you all any longer, so we already had bread..." Hazelle seems ashamed of their action, but I laugh and explain that we ate before. Mr. Mellark eventually tell us that we need to leave because there's a crowd of Peacekeepers waiting for our table.

In the square, there's a man playing the fiddle and his wife has a tamborine. A lilting melody plays and Jack tosses a coin into their jar. He then grabs Ree and they dance toward the gallows.

"May I have this dance?" Haymitch asks, and I smile at his formal tone. He spins me around and then he spins himself, making me laugh. We attempt a fancy Capitol dance and fail, but manage to move in a tight circle without stepping on one another. I free myself and spin away from him. The music stops and the square goes silent, but I don't notice. I only notice when Haymitch stops laughing, and I quit spinning to see what's going on.

An arm wraps itself around my waist and a sharp pain pierces my stomach. I see Haymitch's face collapse into fear and anger. I fall.

** Sorry for the shortness and cliff hanger. I might be able to get another chapter up tomorrow before testing starts, but I'm not sure. **

**NOTICE: Next chapter will not be in Allie's PoV, nor will any chapters after that. We're getting close to the end, but I'm planning on a few chapters after to sum everything up. Thanks for reading! :)**

**Also, I found this song that makes me think of Allie and Haymitch! It's called "Do You Remember" by Jack Johnson. LISTEN TO IT!**


	13. 13

** Okaydokay...So I got a request from ****Emma Fried**** that Allie not be killed off...and yes while that would make a much better story, unfortunately, I think we all liked Haymitch as a snarky drunk in the books, and that might not have happened if all the tragedies hadn't happened to him, all the deaths and stuff. So yeah.**

** OH and this chapter is in Haymitch's Point of View. Just saying, to avoid confusion :)**

This can't be happening. Not to me. Not to her.

One minute, I'm dancing with my girl, and I'm laughing and having a grand old time. She spins away, and I'm taken with how beautiful she is.

She lets out a small _oh!_ of surprise and grasps at her belly. Red flowers blossom through the wool of her jacket and slowly stain her fingers crimson. She looks up at me, disbelief written clearly all over her face. Allie falls to her knees and, for a moment, I'm back in the arena, watching Maysilee get all sliced up. Today, like then, there's nothing I can do.

I run and kneel next to her, gently lifting her up in my arms. I brush a strand of red hair out of her eyes and she opens them, the usual dark blue slightly clouded.

"Hey, Mitchie..." Allie smiles up at me and I swallow hard. "I guess I'm that bad of a dancer, so...they had to get...rid of me, huh?"

"You're better than I am!" I choke on the words and she gives me a pouty face. It's almost like we're arguing over what program to watch on television.

Almost.

"I love you, baby...Love you a whole bunch..." Allie reaches up and weakly ruffles my hair, then coughs into her hand. A bright red glob falls out of her mouth and a quiet tear rolls down her cheek. "No cookies at our...wedding..."

"We'll have cookies! Remember, we're gonna have ten kids and thirty gran'kids, and live up in the Village forever! Remember that?"

"Yeah...Looks like no cookies...no kids...We both lose..."

"Jesus Christ!" I swear, using a name I remember from ancient history class in high school. "Shit, Allie, you're not gonna die. You don't leave me!"

Her eyes close and I stand up, trying not to jostle her too much. There's a hand on my arm and I look and it's Ree Kary.

"My dad can see what he can do, if you want!" I follow her to the apothecary, where Mr. Kary tells me to set her down on the table.

Before I can turn away, Allie's hand grabs my jacket and pulls me close to her mouth.

"I love you, Haymitch!" she gasps, and her eyes close.

"I love you too, Allie. So, _so_ much." Mr. Kary puts his stethoscope on her chest and sadly shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, Mitch..." I stumble away and run into someone. The someone grabs the back of my coat and spins me around, slamming me against the wall.

"_What did you do to her_!" screams Mr. Binden. His face is the same red as his mustache, and there's a vein pulsing on his forehead. "_What did you do to _my _Allie_? Why is she dead? _You tell me what happened!_" Allie's mother pulls her husband away, but he charges forward again and my head cracks against a shelf, sending a barrage of medicinal vials shattering on the floor. Ree shrieks and her father tries to soothe everyone, but Mr. Binden is in a rage and he rears back. Before anyone can do anything, his fist slugs me good in the nose, and I feel my feet leave the ground.

"None of that in my store! Get out!" Mr. Kary shepherds everyone out of his office and slams the door. Before Mr. Binden can do anything else, I get in his face and scream right back:

"_Do you know how upset you made her_? She came to my house _bawling_ all the time, sometimes in the early hours of the morning, because of what _you_ said to her! You think any daughter wants to hear that she's a _dirty tramp_, or a whore? And from her own father! And mother!" I gesture wildly at both of them. _"She would tell me _how much_ she hated you both, _and I couldn't do anything! I couldn't do what I wanted, because she would get angry at me! I had to listen to all the crap that _you_ said to her, and do _absolutely nothing_!"

"You're dirt from the Seam, good for nothing but mining, and you were corrupting my daughter!"

"So you should've said somethin' to me, _not her_! She didn't do anything, and she _died_. All Allie would talk about in middle school was _how much_ she thought you hated her, and how all she wanted was to be accepted."

"_Stay away from my family_, you hear me boy? I told you, if _any_thing happened to her-"

"_Shut up_!" I shout, and push him out of my way. In the background, both parents scream obscenities, but their voices are like the chattering of angry geese. I slam my front door shut and Mom emerges from her room, looking bleary eyed at me.

"What's wrong?" I storm past her and run up the stairs. My bedroom door slams behind me and I yank open the dresser drawers, digging through until I find the little bag. I gently remove the contents and hold the little ring. My hand dwarfs the tiny stone, and tears spring to my eyes as I imagine how beautiful Allie would've looked on our wedding day. I was going to surprise her with the ring tonight.

I break down sobbing and flop onto the bed, holding my face in my hands. _I can't do this anymore. Hayden, then Allie..._

"Haymitch? Son, what's wrong?"

"She's dead, Mom, that's what's wrong! She's _dead_!" Mom comes over and gingerly puts her arms around me. I bury my face in her shoulder and sob like a baby.

"It's okay, just cry it out...Sshh..." I lift my head and open my hand, showing the little ring.

"I was going to ask her tonight..." Mom makes some sympathetic noises and I cry for a good hour.

"You get yourself scrubbed up, and I'll make dinner. M'kay?" I sniffle and nod, and Mom pets my head. The door clicks shut behind her.

In the shower, little scraps of memories hit me, one after the other.

_There's a little girl with her red hair ties up in pigtails, crying against the wall on her first day of kindergarten...She smiles at me and I feel god inside, for making her stop crying..._

_ The same girl in middle school, sprawled on the ground with mud all over her dress. I push Saicha down into the same puddle she pushed Allie into, and help Allie up. She wipes her eyes and tells me her dress is ruined. I say she's still pretty..._

_ Allie breaks her sandwich in half and offers the other half to me. She says that my haircut looks nice, but she likes my hair when it flops all over better..._

_ I pull Allie into the alley behind her house and kiss her for the first time. It was summer and she was wearing a light blue dress and her hair was in red waves on her freckly shoulders..._

I shut the water off and more memories hit me.

_"Ha'mish! Ha'mish, you slow down!" The little boy toddles after me and I turn around, annoyed._

_ "You stay at home, Hayden! You can't come to school!" The little boy stops and his chin wrinkles up and he starts to cry..._

_ "Don't pick on your brother, he's younger than you are!"_

_ "Mom..."_

_ "Don't you 'Mom", me, Haymitch Abernathy. You let Hayden come with you!"_

_ "Fine...here, boy!" I duck out of reach of Mom's wooden spoon and Hayden chases me out the door, where Jack and Cal wait for us..._

"Haymitch! Hurry up in there!" Mom bangs on the door and I follow her downstairs to the kitchen, where a steaming plate of potatoes waits for me. EVerything tastes bland, and I excuse myself quickly. The rest of the night, I gaze into the gem on what would have been Allie's wedding ring.

Mom is dead in her bed when I go to wake her up. There's a little cut on her neck, and blood stains the sheet and covers the floor.

I puke in the bathroom.

Everyone turns to look when I swing the door of the bar open and sit myself down at the counter.

"Whiskey, please. And keep 'em coming."

** We aren't done ith the story yet! :) Still one or two or so chapters left.**


	14. 14

**Wow thanks for the awesome response to the last chapter! I was all worried that it wasn't tragic/sad enough :)**

Two funerals in one day. Here in District Twelve, we combine funerals so everyone can get back to the mines faster. Allie's funeral is first, since she from town. Order of funerals is always decided by reputation in town; or how rich you are.

I decide to stay far away from Mr. and Mrs. Binden today. I personally don't want to get into another screaming match with Allie's dad over her coffin.

_Coffin_. What an ugly word. It's so..._final_. Like there's nothing but dirt waiting for you once you kick it and leave.

I'm nursing a pounding headache from whiskey for most of the funeral. I squinch my eyes up and try to stay in the shade, but the..._coffin_, is like a magnet. Her casket's open for the first hour, and I basically stand at the head of it and stare down at my girl.

It's downright creepy and terrifying. I hate dead bodies, and this is just awful. She looks all pale and drawn, and the black dress they've put her in just makes her look even more wan. She told me once that black is her least favorite color because it's lifeless and depressing. The little necklace Anguria found for me after my Victory is the only sparkle of color on the endless black, but the mayor steps up and removes the chain from Allie's neck. I narrow my eyes and follow him to the grieving parents.

"Would you like to have this? It's valuable, and it would be wasteful for your daughter to be buried in it." Mayor Undersee is a very blunt man and says exactly what any family would do with a valuable. _Of course it's valuable, stupid man. It's a real gem, not like you would know it._

"I don't even know where she'd gotten such a nice necklace, or that she had it! Of course we'd like to keep it!" The greedy light in both pairs of eyes throws me for a loop. Not even five seconds ago, Mrs. Binden had been sobbing seemingly unstoppably into her husband's shoulder, yet now her eyes were dry. That stupid self-righteous smirk fluttering at the corners of Mr. Binden's mouth sets me off, and before I can stop my self, I grab the necklace.

"Pretty li'l thing, ain't it?" I play up the Seam drawl in my voice and forget the grammar learned in the Capitol. _Sorry, Wellik. Sorry, Anguria. Waste of time, tryin' to teach me anything._

"Give that back, you-"

"Well, don'cha think th' person who got it fer her should have it back?"

"We need the money!"

"I doubt that. Ya got customers every day, and you can afford to live in town. Me, I live in the big ol' empty house by m'self, could use a good mem'ry." Mr. Binden shoots daggers at me, but Mayor Undersee looks delighted and hands it to me.

"See now, that's real forgiveness! Just yesterday you two men were brawling in the apothecary and now you've forgiven one another!" _Is Undersee really that stupid, or is he acting? His son Tom isn't an idiot like him_.

"Yess...For_give_ness..." Mr. Binden hisses at me through a clenched and forced smile. I grin big and thank him in my best "Seam hick" voice.

"Means a helluva lot, sir!" Mayor Undersee goes on about the real goodness displayed here, and then goes up to make some speech about how good of a girl my Allie was. Not like he really new her, but it's his job. I escape from the purpling husband and wife quickly and slide into a seat next to Hazelle Linch. Allie would be furious at me for doing that to her parents, but I know she'd be laughing through any real anger

"I'm sorry, Haymitch," Hazelle says, and I know she means it. Allie was her best friend, and I feel a prick in my eyes. Hazelle's eyes are pink and puffy and Ihug her tight for a moment, then release her when Cal gives me a dirty look.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. S'my fault she's dead, anyway." Hazelle looks shocked.

"_What?_"

"Yeah. His Wonderfulness Sir Splendidness President of Panem _Snow_ told me that unless I apologized to ev'ry one of the districts on television about using the arena that there'd be severe consequences. I figured something, like, not letting me in the Village. Or a whippin'. So I didn't apologize and..." I gesture weakly at the cemetery. "Consequences."

"Oh, come on! That's not true!"

"Maybe not, but there's no point tellin' me otherwise." Talk is stopped by the mayor tapping on the microphone and a loud squeal of feedback makes everyone throw their hands to their ears. I smile, imagining Allie's sarcastic comments.

_"District Twelve, home of Panem's most intelligent tech team."_

"Allaine Binden was a loved and wonderful girl, and loving to everyone she met. She'll be missed by everyone."

Hazelle leans over and whispers, "Oh, she _definitely_ loved everyone she met. Remember Dax Potts?" Dax was in Allie's sixth grade class, and the most perverted person I've ever known. He had major love for Allie and she was creeped out so,...she wasn't always very nice to him. Actually, she wasn't _ever_ nice to him. Poor Dax was so smitten that he tried to kiss her after school.

She punched him in the face.

"Whatever happened to Dax, anyway?"

"Reaped, three years ago." Ah, yes.

"Thanks all for coming...Next funeral will be in a half hour." There's a scraping of numerous chairs as people stretch between Allie's funeral and Mom's funeral. Jack puts his hand on my shoulder and gets me up to my girl's coffin. I reach out and gently stroke her hand. The lid slams shut and Allie Binden is gone.

###

I'm flanked by Jack and Cal during Mom's funeral. Honestly, I'm a mess. There'll be good-natured jeering later about my waterworks factory, but for now the guys are being supportive.

"...Such a loss, a loving mother and a good woman..." Snatches of Mayor Undersee's eulogy get caught in my brain, and I nearly lose it at "loving mother". Obviously, no one had told the mayor of Mom's fondness for chasing me and Hayden around with a wooden spoon if we didn't do what she wanted.

I hate funerals. The barman raises his eyebrows at me when I walk in again, and asks me if I'm not too young to be drinking so much.

I point out that he gives reduced prices to the Seam waifs who give him their bodies. He hurriedly pours me a drink.

It's not like I can hold my alcohol anyway. It just gives me a fuzzy feeling and I forget everything for a while. But after four drinks, I'm already running to the toilet.

Allie would hate me for doing this.

** Another short chapter, my apologies. I'm trying to juggle school and SCHOOL DRAMA and testing and yechh. So I write when I can. Hopefully the next chapter will be a little longer :)**


	15. 15

**I just want to say thanks to you all for the awesome reviews :) I've been checking my email constantly on my ipod so I can see them all! :D**

** Again, flashbacks are in italics.**

One year. One Victory Tour, innumerable handshakes, at least a thousand glares for either directly or indirectly killing another family's son or daughter.

Three hundred and sixty-five days, and I have to sit through it all again. The Reaping.

It's same routine, but with only two tributes being drawn. I'm happily buzzed, sitting onstage next to the Mayor's family, which now includes Milana Donner. Tom Undersee and Milana have been engaged for a month. Jack and Ree have become the new power couple in the district, and Cal and Ree are happy just to stumble along with one another.

I envy them all.

"And I'm happy to present District Twelve's only living Victor, Haymitch Abernathy!" I step up to the microphone and there's a quiet smattering of applause. "Let's see who our male tribute will be, shall we?" The square goes quiet, and I see the Peacekeepers' grips tighten on their weapons.

_A white-clothed soldier grabs Allie and the knife hidden in his sleeve makes red roses sprout on her chest. She tips forward-_

"Rylan Winnters!" Wellik's booming proclamation snaps me back here, and a little boy, barely twelve, trips up the steps and faces the crowd. I can see him shaking, and feel helpless. _He's not going to come here again_.

"Any advice for this one, Mr. Abernathy?" I lean to the microphone.

"Why should I say any advice now? Th' other districts will just use my words against my tributes. Advice'll happen on the train," I slur, and pat Rylan on the back.

"Well...Okay then! Next up, our female tribute is..." Wellik's hand goes into the girl's reaping ball.

_ "__See, Allie? There's only one girl left to be picked, and if it's you then I'll have to turn to the drink as an escape, because there's no way you'd make it. You worry too much!" Smack on the arm from her._

"Gretchen Auskin!" The seventeen-year-old mounts the steps confidently, but her eyes are bright with unshed frightened tears. I shake both tributes hands and we proceed into the Justice Building, where tearful good-byes are spoken and kisses are given.

I take a swig from the flask in my jacket, which doesn't get hidden away quickly enough, because Wellik grabs it and smashes it against the wall of the building.

"That's mine! What the hell!"

"You need to be sober for mentoring, boy. I don't give a damn if you won last year, but you better get cleaned up if you want these kids to have a chance!" He's got his pudgy finger practically up my nose, but I decide to humor him.

"Whatever, Wellik. Can't order me 'round once they're in the arena."

"I mean it, if I get as much of a _whiff_ of alcohol..." He lets the threat dangle in the air and stomps away.

###

I hate the Capitol. I wasn't exaggerating on that stupid interview with the bubblehead Flickerman, it's too flashy. The people look like mutts, and regard normal people like _we're_ the freaks.

Backwards city, if you ask me.

Anguria and the prep team raise their eyebrows in unison when they see me.

"Mitch, have you showered since the Tour?" asks Anguria. I left the kids with their stylists. That Gretchen is a loudmouth ditz and Rylan...Actually, I don't mind Rylan. Reminds me of Hayden.

"Hello to you too, sweetheart. And yes, I've showered every day, believe it or not!" She looks skeptical, and the prep team descends.

Three hours, a hot shower, cologne, and makeup (hate that too) later, I'm ready for dinner. The kids look shellshocked, not that I blame them. Gretchen bombards me with words the minute I walk in.

"Why did they make us over? We're just gonna get killed in a while anyhow, what's it matter if we're pretty or not!"

"Prettier you are, the more sponsors ya get. The more sponsors, the longer you'll stay alive. Get it?"

"B-but, Mr. Haymitch! Why do the Cap'tol want us to die?" Rylan's little voice makes me feel awful.

"Kid, because they don't care. It's called the Games for a reason. But it's my job to see that you don't die, and hopefully I'll do my job good." Enter the Avox team, laden with food to set out. The kids should've been used to food, from the train ride, but even I'm shocked at how much food there is.

"Eat while you can, you want to gain weight so you're stronger in there," I advise, and Rylan takes the advice. Gretchen rolls her eyes.

"I'm not gong to get any sponsors by being fat, either!" _Bubblehead ditz..._

"Suit yourself!" I heap my plate and knock back a glass of wine. I've gotten to where I can take at least eleven drinks before blacking out. I've got a high tolerance, probably because dear old Daddy walked out on us while he was riding high on Planet Liquor. He's why we lived in the Seam, too. We found him dead three days later.

Gretchen rises quickly and her plate falls off the table. "I'll be in my room." She storms out and an Avox man stoops next to me to clean up the mess.

"Want help?" The man looks up and I almost cough up my dinner all over him.

It's Hayden.

I see Wellik looking at me with his eyebrow raised, and the kids' stylists give me the same look. Rylan just looks between me and Hayden, perplexed.

"Isn't that-" Wellik's pudgy hand claps over the boy's mouth and I get on the floor, pretending to help.

"H-_Hayden__?_" He blinks, then recognition dawns on his face. He smiles, but then frantically sjakes his head and makes a cutting motion across his throat.

I can't even talk to my own brother for Christssakes. I bump my head on the table getting up and grab the bottle of wine.

"Rylan! Advice, here's some: Don't do anything that you'll regret later. Happy, Wellik?" I go into my room and knock back the whole bottle.

Buzzing, I unbutton the top few buttons on my shirt and pull out the necklace. I'd threaded Allie's ring onto the same chain as her necklace and lengthened the chain so it fits me. I hold both little charms in my hand and blubber.

Hayden.

Mom.

Allie.

I'm going to try my hardest to bring one of these damn tributes home. Once, just once, and then maybe I'll feel better. Maybe, I could get a full night's sleep. Maybe, the nightmares with the District Two girl and Allie, both screaming at me in hatred and anger, will stop.

Maybe, but maybe not.

###

Rylan is dead by the second night. Froze to death, and Gretchen was ambushed. The cool steel of my knife burns when it cuts into my shoulder the first time. I sit on the floor of my room and absently slice the knife agin, and again, and again into my shoulder. I'm numb. I failed as a mentor, and I probably always will.

Anguria finds me on the floor and pries the knife out my fist. "Come on, Haymitch, act like a big boy." She gets me on my feet and into bed.

"The little one, Rylan...He told me his birthday was in two weeks. He never got to be a teenager, never got to do anything. Barely got to live." Anguria sighs and wipes up my shoulder.

It's the same every year. Rylan, Gretchen, Evin, Kayley, Jakob, Nillie, Bill, Calliope, on and on and on. Forty eight kids, twenty four years.

And then I get landed with my now-deceased friends' kids. Katniss Everdeen, daughter of Jack and Ree Everdeen, and Peeta Mellark, Adem and Saicha's son.

I still can't believe Saicha finally got Adem to marry her. I don't know where they got the stupid name "Peeta" from, and I'm not sure why Jack and Ree were fascinated with names of plants for their children. Katniss is a type of potato. But the kids don't come close to the stupidity of their names.

My first Victors.

Rebellion starters.

Hopelessly in love, and finally, there's peace in Panem.

** There's going to be one more chapter, but we're almost done :( SO sad. Poor Hayden!**


	16. 16

** Last chapter... :\**

I stand in front of the pair of stones. Absentmindedly, I draw swirls in the grass with the toe of my boot and sigh. The warm summer breeze ruffles my hair and makes me remember a girl who used to do the same. Forty-four years and sixteen thousand and sixty days since she left me.

Nineteen years, six thousand nine hundred and thirty five days since the rebellion ended and I came back to District Twelve with Katniss and Peeta. When the Capitol had initially bombed District 12, most of the district had been decimated. Everything except Victor's Village had been destroyed. One last sick joke, courtesy of President Snow.

Parts of the cemetery had also been destroyed, but the two graves that matter to me were relatively unharmed. Mom's stone had a huge crack running through it and someone else's stone had been partially embedded in it. The angel on top of Allie's stone had been blown apart and the grass in front of her stone was ripped up and strewn everywhere. Peeta had helped me repair Mom's stone and put Allie's back together, but he did any digging by himself; I wasn't able to look at the shard of wood without feeling sick. Then he planted a flower-bush in between the two graves. I don't remember exactly, but I think I tried to thank Peeta by offering him half of the liquor I had.

He hadn't accepted.

I feel the tremors starting and grope in my jacket pocket for the flask that isn't there. Katniss told me that if I wanted to ever see her children, I'd have to make a real effort to be sober. I did want to see them, so I wasn't stubborn about it. But, she doesn't know that I have a hidden stash of white liquor in my bedroom.

People have settled down in District Twelve again. Victor's Village isn't reserved for just winners anymore. Anyone can live there, and every house is full with happy families with their picket fences and green grass.

I toss the bouquet of daisies on Allie's grave and the bouquet of tulips on Mom's. Daisies and tulips were their favorite flowers, and I bring a fresh bouquet of each every week when I visit.

"Sorry for lettin' you down, Mom. I think I'm not as pathetic now, though...I've gotten more sober and I'm a babysitter when Katniss and Peeta go visit Ree or Annie. Not always; sometimes they bring the kids and sometimes I go, too." I scuff the foot in the dirt and bite my lip. "So, yeah..."

"And Allie? I know that you hated drunkards and people who abused stuff like I did. But I don't anymore! I've managed to cut down to two bottles a week. And, uh...the kids are really cute. You'd like 'em, I think. The boy has Jack's hair and Saicha's blue eyes, and the little baby is goin' to look like Ree, but with gray eyes." My eyes get a little cloudy and I swipe angrily at them. My hand comes away wet.

"And I've got my geese, so you can't say I'm unemployed!" There's a laugh from a distance behind me, and a baby's squeal. I turn and see Katniss and Peeta with their children at the base of the hill. I wave, and little Cinna waves back.

Cinna Jack "C.J." Mellark takes after his mother in looks, but has Peeta's optimism and brightness. He's the eldest at four years old. He calls me Uncle Hammish. I've given up trying to correct him. Primrose Rue Mellark is still newborn. She has thin blonde hair and dark gray eyes.

"Hi, Uncle Hammish! What aw' you doin'?" asks Cinna when he reaches the top of the hill. The kid's not even out of breath, and it's a steep hill. "Aw' you vis'ting the flower bushes?"

"Nope, I'm just waiting for you all. Katniss _did_ promise a picnic up here, but I seem to be the first here!" I lift him up and he laughs, a bright pealing sound.

"Haymitch! I thought we were meeting here at one o'clock! It's one, and you've been up here since noon!" Peeta has a basket, and the breeze carries the smell of hot bread to C.J. and I. I see Katniss nudge him and give him a Look, and he reddens. She whispers something and he shouts an apology.

"Forgot it was Thursday! Sorry to interrupt your visiting!" I snort.

"I knewed you was vis'ting somebody! Who's up he-aw?" C.J. wiggles and I put him down, and he runs to look for whoever I must've been visiting with. His frantic search makes me smile, and Katniss asks me if it hurts to smile, since I do it so infrequently. I glare at her, but then she deposits baby Prim in my arms and I'm otherwise occupied. Peeta sets down the basket and spreads out a blanket.

"Cinna! Come here, kiddo, I've got your lunch." Peeta's son crash-lands on the blanket and starts to pick at a peanut butter sandwich. Katniss throws a bottle of milk at me and I catch it, then settle slowly onto the blanket. Prim's eyes flicker open and she wrinkles her nose at me. I wrinkle mine at her,

"Uncle Hammish, _guess what! _Yessurday, Mommy let me leave school ear'y because Auntie Annie and Junior are coming over dis weekend and so I had to clean my room!" Junior is Finnick Junior, Annie's only child. He's got his father's looks and his mother's sweet disposition, but sometimes when I talk to the kid, it's like I'm talking to the Finnick Odair that _I_ knew, the one who would walk around District Thirteen half-naked and tease Katniss mercilessly about Peeta.

"Really? Annie and Finn are visiting? Good, someone'll be here that doesn't care if I don't clean up from breakfast. And there'll be another babysitter so I don't have to watch these brats while you three adults go on the town. I can come too," I remark, and C.J. laughs at the word brat.

"Oh, come on, Haymitch, don't pretend like you don't like babysitting! You love the kids!" Katniss gives me a reproachful look.

"Yeah, when that one's not chasing my geese around!" Little Prim finishes her bottle and then proceeds to spit up all over my shirt. "Fantastic..."

The picnic ends when Cinna runs headlong into a tree and gets a slice across his forehead. Katniss glares at me when I tell him that ladies think a man with a scar is mysterious.

I leave by myself, and actually fall asleep, unassisted by liquor (so it isn't a blackout), for the first time in forty-four years. I don't wake up, shouting and waving my knife at empty air, with nightmares, either.

Life seems to be looking up.

_"For never was a story of more woe_

_Then this of Juliet_

_And her Romeo"_

_~Romeo and Juliet_, Act V Scene III

**And that's the end. Thank you all for reviewing, reading, alerting, faving, etc. I'd thank you all but it would take much too long to copy and paste everyone's names. :)**

** Playlist for the story:**

_**-**_**Do You Remember: Jack Johnson**

** -My Immortal, Hello, and Everybody's Fool: Evanescence**

** -When You're Gone and My Happy Ending: Avril Lavigne**

** -Crazier, Innocent, and Back to December: Taylor Swift**

** -When They Come for Me and Waiting for the End: Linkin Park**

** -Whiskey Lullaby and Then: Brad Paisley**

** -Not Afraid: Eminem **

**Look these songs up, they are quite wonderful :) Thank you again! **


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